Optical Subchannel Routing, Protection Switching and Security

ABSTRACT

The present invention includes novel techniques, apparatus, and systems for optical WDM communications. Tunable lasers are employed to generate subcarrier frequencies representing subchannels of an ITU channel to which client signals can be mapped. Client circuits can be divided and combined before being mapped, independent of one another, to individual subchannels within and across ITU channels. Subchannels may be independently routed to a single subchannel receiver filter, such that each subchannel detected at the receiver may come from a different source location. Network architectures and subchannel transponders, muxponders and crossponders are disclosed, and techniques are employed (at the subchannel level/layer), to facilitate the desired optical routing, switching, concatenation and protection of client circuits mapped to these subchannels across the nodes of a WDM network. Subchannel hopping may also be used to increase the optical network security.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/961,436, filed on Dec. 6, 2010, by Chris Wilhelm Barnard,and entitled “Optical Subchannel Routing, Protection Switching andSecurity,” which claims the benefit, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(e), ofU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/267,786, filed Dec. 8, 2009,entitled “Subchannel Photonic Routing, Switching and Protection withSimplified Upgrades of WDM Optical Networks,” which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Field of Art

This application relates generally to optical communications based onoptical wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM), and in particular tosubchannel routing, switching, and protection, along with relatedtechniques that facilitate network upgrades and reuse of legacyequipment.

B. Description of Related Art

1. Overview

Optical WDM communication systems transmit multiple optical channels atdifferent WDM carrier wavelengths through a single fiber. Theinfrastructures of many deployed optical fiber networks today are basedon 10 Gb/s per channel. As the demand for higher transmission speedsincreases, there is a need for optical networks at 40 Gb/s, 100 Gb/s orhigher speeds per channel.

Moreover, there is a need to leverage this higher bandwidth to realizegreater flexibility in routing client signals among network nodes. Forexample, increasing the bandwidth of a fiber channel from 10 Gb/s to 40Gb/s might enable 4×10 Gb/s client circuits to occupy a channel betweentwo network nodes previously dedicated to a single 10 Gb/s clientcircuit. Yet, unless an entire channel is free to enable all four clientcircuits to continue propagating together to a subsequent node on thenetwork, the desired routing of these four client circuits may not beachievable without some mechanism for dynamically rerouting individualclient circuits, independent of one another, across different fiberchannels.

As will become apparent below, there is a need not only for increasedbandwidth, but for sufficient flexibility to divide and/or combineindividual client circuits to achieve desired routing, switching,concatenation and protection capabilities. Such flexibility is needed tofully realize the benefit of increasing the number of available opticalcircuits in a single fiber.

2. Single-Wavelength Optical Networks

Optical fiber has been used as a communication means since about 1977.Over time, deployed baud rates on a single laser have increased from 45MB/s to over 40 Gb/s. Various protocols have been transmitted acrossoptical fiber, including SONET [GR-253] and Gigabit Ethernet [IEEEStandard 802.3ae].

FIG. 1A shows a deployed network 100 that uses OC-48 SONET add-dropmultiplexers 120 at each node, interconnected by a first fiber opticcable 125 for signals traveling in a clockwise direction, and a secondfiber optic cable 135 for signals travelling in a counterclockwisedirection. At each node (or network add/drop site) lower-rate clienttraffic 110 can be added or dropped, or passed through that node. SONETmappers are used to map the traffic to the STS-1 virtual containers[described in Telcordia Standard GR-253], and SONET multiplexers areused to direct the traffic to the add, drop, or passthrough ports. Apair of multiplexers can be used on two separate line cards as shown toprovide support for a Unidirectional Path Switched Ring (UPSR), or a2-fiber or 4-fiber Bidirectional Line-Switched Ring (BLSR). [GR-1230Telcordia Standard describes the SONET BLSR]. The traffic from a SONETADM can also be combined with other traffic using wave-divisionmultiplexing (WDM) to increase the network capacity.

FIG. 1B shows a deployed network 150 that uses Gigabit Ethernet switches170 at each node, interconnected by a first fiber optic cable 175 forsignals traveling in a clockwise direction, and a second fiber opticcable 185 for signals travelling in a counterclockwise direction. Ateach node incoming Gigabit Ethernet traffic 160 is mapped to VLANs thatare transmitted on the 10 GE line side. At each node traffic in eachVLAN is selected to be added or dropped, or passed through that node.When GE networks are deployed in a ring, the standard protocols of STP(Spanning-Tree Protocol) and RPR (Resilient Packet Ring) can be used toprovide protection. The traffic from a 10 GE switch can also be combinedwith other traffic using WDM.

3. WDM Networks with Muxponders and Transponders

Later generations of optical fiber communication systems use opticalamplifiers to increase span and repeater distances andwavelength-division multiplexing to increase the link capacity oraggregate bandwidth. WDM networks transmit client traffic from multiplesources over an optical fiber network. The traffic is multiplexed on thefiber by transmitting each signal with a laser set at a differentchannel on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) channel plandefined in Standard G.692. Optical filters designed to functionaccording to the ITU channel plan are used to demultiplex the signalsand thereby direct each signal to its designated receiver. Thesestandard ITU channels are hereinafter referred to simply as “channels.”

Optical signals are transmitted using transponders or muxponders, andare demultiplexed with fixed optical add-drop multiplexers (FOADMs),reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADMs), and/or wavelengthselective switches (WSS).

FIG. 2 shows a currently deployed WDM transponder 200. Client traffic210 is connected via a short-reach fiber interface to clienttransceivers 215. These are typically pluggable devices such as an XFP[MSA standard http://www.xfpmsa.org/cgi-bin/msa.cgi]. After the opticalsignal is converted to an equivalent electrical signal (utilizing clockrecovery circuitry 218), it can be processed digitally to optionally (1)extract performance monitoring information 220, (2) add channel overheadfor remote network management 225, and (3) encode the data for forwarderror correction 227. The signal is then used to modulate light from afixed or tunable laser on the WDM grid. The output 230 from thetransmitter 229 is then launched onto the transmission fiber. Thetransmitted light signal can be combined with light signals from otherWDM transponders on a single fiber with an optical multiplexer.

At the receive side of the link, an optical demultiplexer is used toseparate the WDM signals 235 (on the incoming fiber), which are thenconverted back into equivalent electrical signals by the receivecircuitry 237 in the transponder. Note that this transponder requiresexternal means to select the particular wavelength that is beingdropped, though this filter function can be integrated onto thetransponder line card [see, eg, U.S. Pat. No. 6,525,857]. The electricalsignal from the line receiver (utilizing clock recovery circuitry 239)can be processed digitally to optionally (1) extract performancemonitoring information 241, (2) drop the channel overhead for remotenetwork management 225, and (3) correct errors according to the ForwardError Correction (FEC) algorithm 243. The signal 240 is then returned tothe client equipment via the client-side transceivers 215. As alluded toabove, transponders may utilize clock recovery circuitry 239 to supportdifferent data rates and protocols.

Typically, the line side optics are designed to operate at 2.7 Gb/s,10.7-11 Gb/s, or 43 Gb/s with the cost of the components increasing withbit rate. The line receiver 237 is either a PIN photodiode or avalanchephotodiode. In either case the receiver is not wavelength specific, sothat an optical demultiplexer, or ITU channel filter, must be placed infront of the receiver to filter out the designated channel.

It should also be noted that control plane circuitry and software 250 isemployed to facilitate various transmit and receive functions of DWDMtransponder 200, such as remote network management 225 (e.g., via theaddition or removal of channel overhead) and the extraction ofperformance monitoring information 245. In addition, control plane 250is employed for configuration of transmission protocols 255 (in concertwith clock recovery circuitry 218) and laser wavelengths 265 (to tunechannels via transmitter 229). Finally, it can detect and handle faultsinvolving the reception of both client-side (267 a) and line-side (267b) signals.

FIG. 3 shows a currently deployed WDM muxponder 300. This module mapslower-rate traffic 310 using a SONET multiplexer [GR-253], OTN (OpticalTransport Network) multiplexer [based on ITU standard G.709], Ethernetswitch, or proprietary digital mapping and multiplexing 320. Themultiplexing may be done with a commercially available orcustom-designed ASIC, or a custom-designed FPGA. The muxponder 300 hasline-side WDM optics similar to the transponder 200 with a laser (intransmitter 329) set to a designated channel on the ITU grid and areceiver 337 that can detect any signal within the ITU channel plan.

Although the transponder 200 and muxponder 300 can be designed totransmit signals from different sources and with different bit rates,the hardware limitations and costs typically limit the implementation toa specific set of protocols. For example, a 10 Gb/s transponder maytransmit OC-192 or STM-64 signals at 9.95 Gb/s, 10 GbE signals at10.3125 Gb/s, FC-10 signals at 10.5 Gb/s, and OTU signals at 10.7 Gb/s.But it may not transmit data at significantly different data rates suchas 2.5 Gb/s or 1.25 Gb/s. This may be a limit of the clock-recoverycircuits used, SERDES (serializer-deserializer) circuits, or the ASIC orFPGA used to perform the performance monitoring and FEC functions.Similarly, a muxponder typically supports a subset of data rates andprotocols that are determined by the capabilities of the digital andanalog electronic circuits. The maximum data rate supported by thetransponder and muxponder is typically limited by the analog circuits onthe line side, such as the optical modulator (or bandwidth of the laserif direct modulation is being used), the bandwidth of the opticalreceiver, and the bandwidth of the transimpedance amplifier used at thereceiver.

WDM network installations have been a compromise between price andfunctionality. The cost of the high-speed optics increases with the linebit rate so that vendors typically partition their products intodifferent data rates such as 2.5 Gb/s, 10 Gb/s, 40 Gb/s, and 100 Gb/s.The price of WDM ports dictates that networks be deployed with as muchbandwidth per port as possible. However, this has been offset bytransponder prices increasing with bandwidth (e.g. 40 G) so that mostWDM lambdas have bandwidth assignments that are “right sized.”

4. WDM Channel Plans

WDM network channel plans usually use a subset of the wavelengths on theInternational Telecommunication Union, Telecommunication Sector (ITU-T)grid. Reference Standard G.692, which specifies a frequency gridanchored at 192.1 THz with interchannel spacings at integer multiples of50 GHz and 100 GHz, is specified as the basis for selecting channelcentral frequencies. For purposes of illustration, the ITU channels willbe referenced as I-210 for 192.1 THz, I-215 for 192.15 THz, etc.

The number of channels on the ITU grid is limited in most applicationsto the gain range available from erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs).Gain-flattened EDFAs are now commercially available for either the Cband (˜191.8 THz to 196.3 GHz) and L band (186.9 to 191.4 GHz).Currently a fully-loaded WDM network can transmit approximately 160channels-80 channels in the C band spaced at 50 GHz and 80 channels inthe L band spaced at 50 GHz.

5. Point-to-Point WDM Links

FIG. 4 shows a simplified diagram of a point-to-point WDM network 400interconnecting two nodes—East Node 410 and West Node 420. Typically twofibers are used—one to transmit from east to west 402 and one totransmit from west to east 404—but a single fiber can also be used.Signals from different WDM lasers are combined via WDM Combiner 415 thatcan be wavelength-dependent (using ITU channel filters) orwavelength-independent (using a 1:N optical splitter).

A 1:N optical splitter can be based on fused fiber couplers. It has Ninput ports and one output port so that optical signals connected to theinput ports are combined in the output fiber with a nominal power lossof 10*log 10(N) dB for each signal. At the receive side the signals aredemultiplexed via WDM Demultiplexer 417 using optical filters such asthin-film filters.

6. WDM Ring Networks

WDM signals can be transmitted over other topologies, such as a ring 500shown in FIG. 5. In this example, and several of the examples to follow,a single wavelength at each node has been used to simplify the example.This does not preclude the generalized case of an arbitrary number ofwavelengths at each node. The ring topology offers the advantage ofhaving two diverse routes between any nodes on a ring so that anyfailure on one side of the ring can be protected with redundant trafficon the other side of the ring. WDM equipment networks also supportchannel passthrough at a node—if an optical filter is not used to drop aparticular signal at that node, then the signal continues around thering to the next node.

Optical filters may be configured to selectively drop channels at anode. In this case the dropped wavelengths can be reused for othersignals on the next ring segment. This filter configuration is shown inFIG. 5 where all signals on ring 500 are directed to a filter (orplurality of filters 515, 525, 535 and 545) to select the droppedchannels. Currently deployed WDM networks route signals using fixed orreconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers. In this example, Node 1510 is configured to drop I-200, Node 2 520 is configured to drop I-210,Node 3 530 is configured to drop I-220, and Node 4 540 is configured todrop I-230.

WDM signals may also be transmitted on a ring in a broadcast and selectconfiguration [see, eg, U.S. Pat. No. 7,120,359]. In this configurationshown in FIG. 6, a portion of the powers of all signals is tapped off ata node and directed to a filter (or plurality of filters 615, 625, 635and 645), to select the dropped channels. This implementation uses awideband tap coupler (616, 626, 636 and 646) that directs a fixedfraction of all signals to a drop port. In this case all signalscontinue around the ring 600 so that the dropped wavelength cannot bereused since it would have interference from the passthrough portion ofthe signal entering the node. Furthermore, the return path of the signalon the protected side of the ring requires a separate wavelength toavoid interference.

Although the broadcast and select configuration does not support channelre-use, it has the advantage that it supports drop and continue traffic,i.e. traffic that is dropped at more than one node. It also has theadvantage that once the tap coupler is in place, adding a filter to dropmore channels does not interrupt the passthrough channels. To date,broadcast and select architectures have been limited by the number ofchannels supported by the optical demultiplexers.

Note that in either configuration of FIG. 5 or FIG. 6, the drop filtermay not provide enough isolation on the passthrough path. In that case,the drop filters can be cascaded to improve the isolation. Further notethat the diagrams only show one channel dropped at each node. Typicalinstallations cascade filters at each node, or use a parallel filter, todrop more than one channel at each node.

Another advantage of the broadcast and select architecture is that itdoes not reduce the bandwidth available on the line fiber. All opticalfilters have a useable passband less than ideal because of the finiteslope of the filter passband. The useable bandwidth of cascaded filtersdecreases as more filters are inserted in the signal path. The graph 700in FIG. 7 shows the bandwidth narrowing effect for the case wherecommercially available WSS filters are cascaded in a network. Eventhough this WSS is designed for 100 GHz ITU channels, it has a useablepassband of 68 GHz. Architectures that minimize the filter insertion inthe optical path therefore have a higher available cumulative bandwidth.

WDM equipment is typically deployed in an equipment shelf that separatesthe add/drop functionality from the transponders or muxponders. Thisoffers the service provider the benefits of paying as they grow,especially since the major expense can be the transponders andmuxponders. This partitioning of WDM equipment 800 is shown in FIG. 8. Apractical implementation would use optical fiber patchcords (802 a and802 b, and 804 a and 804 b) to connect the discrete modules (add/dropmodules 810 and 820, and transponders/muxponders 830 and 840), butoptical backplanes have also been deployed.

Note that in FIG. 8 filters 815 and 825 are installed with largerchannel counts than are being used. Over time channels can be added tothe unused filter ports without interrupting the live services. Becauseof human error in manually adding the fiber patchcords (802 a and 802 b,and 804 a and 804 b) between the modules (add/drop modules 810 and 820,and transponders/muxponders 830 and 840), this partitioning can lead tomisconnections of the fiber patchcords. Instead of properly connectingmodule 810 to transponder 830 (via fiber patchcords 802 a and 802 b), asshown in FIG. 8, these fiber patchcords could mistakenly be misconnectedas shown in WDM equipment 900 in FIG. 9—e.g., connecting correspondingmodule 910 to transponder 940 (instead of transponder 930) viacorresponding fiber patchcords 902 a and 902 b. Similarly, module 920 ismistakenly connected to transponder 930 (instead of transponder 940) viafiber patchcords 904 a and 904 b. These mistaken connections may bedifficult to detect, especially if there are two redundant paths betweenthe terminals.

Tracing optical connections can be difficult in this scenario becausethe multiplexers, amplifiers, and other equipment may not have means toindependently detect each incident channel. U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,029,however, discloses a method whereby an optical signal is modulated witha low frequency dither signal to provide a modulated optical signalhaving a known modulation depth. A portion of the optical signal istapped, and both a total power and a dither amplitude of the tappedportion of the optical signal can be measured within the network toprovide power levels of the signals. But this method requires dedicatedhardware at all monitoring points and it cannot detect third-partysignals (i.e., “alien” signals that are generated by other equipmentvendors, but which may be inserted into a WDM network as long as theyare on the same ITU channel plan and do not interfere with othersignals).

Another method that can be used to monitor signals in the network is todeploy optical spectrum analyzers at various points in a network. Thesecan be accessed through the network management software. However,getting a full view of the network may require many of these and thusadd considerable cost [see, eg, U.S. Pat. No. 7,002,697]. So thereremains a need to improve the end-to-end visibility of signals in amultichannel optical network.

7. Link Budget Rules

To maintain signal integrity and guarantee a high quality of service,optical networks transmitting digital signals must maintain a minimumbit error rate (BER). Well-known factors affecting the WDM signal BERare received power levels, optical signal-noise ratio (OSNR), chromaticdispersion (CD), polarization-mode dispersion (PMD), and nonlinear fiberpenalties such as cross-phase modulation and four-wave mixing. Networkdesign rules determine the link budget (maximum distance and loss perfiber span) based on these penalties.

Guaranteeing the performance and determining the link budget for aninstalled network can be costly because determining the factors listedabove may require expensive test equipment. Furthermore, the tests mayhave to be run while the network is out of service so that changes overtime after a network is installed cannot be detected. There is thereforea need to measure the optical parameters for an installed network, withminimal service disruption, and minimal extra cost.

8. Optical Protection

Optical networks often require protection against equipment failures orfiber cuts. One good way of protecting traffic is to provide two or moreredundant paths between the end points with a protection algorithm thatselects traffic from one of the redundant paths. Standard protectionalgorithms are the SONET Unidirectional Path Switched Ring (UPSR) andBidirectional Line-Switched Ring (BLSR). The UPSR provides dedicatedprotection (each working circuit has a protection circuit of equalbandwidth) and the BLSR provides shared protection (the protectionbandwidth equals the total working bandwidth in a single fiber).

Dedicated and shared protection both require means to (1) bridge trafficat the transmit end onto the redundant paths, and (2) select traffic atthe receiver from one of the redundant paths.

Shared protection also requires a means to manage the passthroughtraffic at the intermediate nodes. Examples of shared protection schemescan be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,046,619 and 7,499,647, and U.S. Pat.App. No. 2007/0025729.

Various forms of optical protection have been proposed and implemented,with the most common being a dedicated 1+1 protection with a 1×2 opticalswitch in front of the receiver. Although shared optical protectionoffers significant bandwidth savings, its practicality is limited by therequirement of maintaining link budget rules for all possible protectionpaths.

9. Larger WDM Networks and WSS

FIG. 10 shows a typical network layout 1000 of a service provider. Thering topology is commonly used in WDM networks because it provides thelowest-cost means of offering protected services. A ring networkrequires that all nodes have at least two connections to separateneighboring nodes. Ring networks may have spurs hanging off them toserve a small number of isolated nodes that have only a single fiberspan connected to another node. Ring networks may be interconnected asshown in FIG. 10 with traffic passing between the rings at one or moreintersecting nodes (nodes A and B). Many deployed networks with similarlayouts need to pass traffic from a spur to a node on the same ring(node C to D), from a spur to a node on a different ring (node C to E),and between nodes on different rings (node D to E). A 1×NWavelength-Selective Switch (WSS) can be used to direct traffic betweenN nodes with direct optical connections [see, eg, U.S. Pat. No.7,492,986].

WSS-based filters are currently much more expensive than fixed filters.Ring interconnections can also be done with fixed optical filters, butthose connections cannot be reconfigured remotely, so that networkupgrades require technicians to go to the interconnecting sites andmanually reconfigure the connections on the fixed filters.

Furthermore, many deployed optical networks have difficulty managing WDMtraffic through on these paths so that the traffic may be segmented byelectro-optical conversions at the intersecting nodes (A, B, F). Theseelectro-optical conversions add cost and complexity to the network whilereducing reliability. However, all-optical routing between rings andfrom spurs to rings requires that the network be engineered so that thelink budget rules are met by the intra-ring signals, and that individualpowers be managed at the intersecting nodes.

10. Subchannel Multiplexing

Various forms of subchannel modulation have been proposed as a means toreduce the dispersion penalties associated with high bit ratetransmission in optical fibers (see, eg, WO 2009/105281) and increasespectral efficiency (see, eg, U.S. Pat. No. 6,525,857). These“subchannels” (eg, subchannels of ITU channels) are typically generatedby microwave modulators or comb generators with a single laser. Examplesof optical comb generators are described in U.S. patent application Ser.No. 12/175,439, entitled “Optical Wavelength-Division-Multiplexed (WDM)Comb Generator Using a Single Laser” and filed on Jul. 17, 2008, whichis incorporated by reference herein. These subchannels are closelyspaced relative to the source laser and are not independently tunableacross a wide wavelength range, i.e. they are tuned in parallel as thesource laser is tuned. Although an embodiment of one of the previouslyreferenced patent applications (WO 2009/105281) proposes the use of morethan one laser to generate the subchannels, such lasers are constrainedto operate in parallel within a single ITU G.692 window.

Lower-rate subcarriers support a simplified upgrade of an installed DWDMnetwork. For example, a legacy 2.5 Gb/s network may have transmitterswith a reach of 600 km. When that network is upgraded to 10 Gb/s,dispersion compensators may have to be installed, since the reach of the10 Gb/s transmitter may be only 80 km. Installing dispersioncompensation and amplifiers to compensate for their loss can be verydisruptive since operators may have to break the traffic multiple timesand at multiple sites. If four subcarriers are used instead, with eachsubcarrier transmitting at 2.5 Gb/s to get 10 Gb/s composite bandwidth,they can have comparable dispersion-limited reach to the installed 2.5Gb/s channels. The use of subcarriers therefore provides systemoperators with a means of upgrading an installed WDM network to increasethe network capacity without having to change the dispersion map.

There is thus a need for an improved implementation of subchannels (eg,using independently tunable lasers to generate independent subcarrierfrequencies) that will not only increase bandwidth and spectralefficiency by enabling multiple client circuits to be assigned torespective subchannels of a single ITU channel, but will also allowthose client circuits to be divided and/or combined with one another andassigned independently to subchannels within and across ITU channels.Such flexibility is needed, as noted above, to achieve desired routing,switching, concatenation and protection capabilities, and thus fullyrealize the benefit of increasing the number of available opticalcircuits in a single fiber.

11. Network Upgrades

Even with the ability to upgrade the capacity without installingadditional dispersion compensators, adding or removing channels from aDWDM network can be disruptive to the live traffic because the channelscan propagate through shared components such as amplifiers andattenuators that act upon the total power. For example, if an attenuatoroutput is being controlled to a certain output power, doubling thechannel count will cause the power per channel to be cut in half. Thisdrop in power could cause bit errors. System operators have a needtherefore for control (eg, via software) over channel changes in a WDMnetwork in a manner that is minimally disruptive to the live channels.

12. Management Cards

WDM network equipment (e.g., equipment 1100 shown in FIG. 11) istypically installed in a shelf 1110 with one or two management cards1120 (MGT) and various line cards 1125. The equipment 1100 is typicallymanaged with a client-server element management system (EMS) consistingof one or more clients, such as client 1130, and EMS Server 1140. TheEMS connects through a private or public IP network (via Router 1150) tothe management cards 1120.

FIG. 12 illustrates how two management cards 1220 a and 1220 b inequipment shelf 1200 can be deployed in an active/standby configurationto improve network robustness. The standby MGT 1220 b takes over themanagement function if there is any hardware or software failure on theactive MGT 1220 a. This configuration typically uses two ethernet planes(1235 and 1245) on the backplane so that any line card can communicatewith either management card. A handshaking protocol between themanagement cards is used to determine which is the active MGT at anygiven time. On each line card there is a switch to select which ethernetbus is used for communications.

This configuration requires control of the software versions running onthe MGT microprocessors. They run the same version to ensurecompatibility in the event of a switchover from active to standby. Theconfiguration and status databases on the operative MGT are constantlybacked up on the backup MGT so that when a failure occurs the backup MGTcan take over the management as quickly as possible, and without anyservice interruptions.

13. OSC Options and Routing Protocols

WDM equipment typically requires that the EMS have a managementconnection to all remote nodes for functions such as provisioningequipment, reporting faults, downloading software upgrades, andretrieving and reporting performance metrics. The MGT also employs amanagement connection to remote nodes for end-to-end provisioning,controlling protection switching, and reporting remote performance andfaults. For these functions, current WDM equipment deploys an opticalservice channel (OSC) that is outside of the ITU-T G.692 spectralwindow, i.e. at 1510 nm or 1620 nm.

Control messages and status can be transmitted from the MGT card to theOSC card over the backplane, and then transmitted optically by the OSCto the remote node where it is routed to the remote MGT card over theremote backplane.

Adding the filters to add and drop the OSC channel add loss and cost tothe network. The OSC can be eliminated if channel overhead is insertedinto the signals, but the typical channel overhead bandwidth (500 kb/s)is much lower than the typical OSC channel bandwidth (100 Mb/s). Thereis therefore a need for improved in-band communications channels thatprovide the necessary bandwidth without adding cost.

14. Optical Switches Interconnected with WDM Links

Switching matrices are used in a telecommunications network to directtraffic from multiple inputs to multiple outputs. An electrical crossbarswitch has a matrix of switches between the inputs and the outputs. Ifthe switch has M inputs and N outputs, then a crossbar has a matrix withM×N cross-points or places where the “bars” cross. A given crossbar is asingle layer, non-blocking switch. Collections of crossbars can be usedto implement multiple layer switches. A Clos network is a kind ofmultistage switching network, first formalized by Charles Clos in 1953[see, eg, Charles Clos (March 1953), “A study of non-blocking switchingnetworks,” ‘Bell System Technical Journal’ 32 (5): 406-424]. The Closnetwork provides a practical multi-stage switching system that is notlimited by the size of the largest feasible single crossbar switch. Thekey advantage of Clos networks is that the number of crosspoints (whichmake up each crossbar switch) required can be much fewer than if theentire switching system were implemented with one large crossbar switch.Although VLSI technology has enabled very large switching matrices inelectronics [see, eg, U.S. Pat. No. 6,714,537], the switch size is stilllimited at very high bandwidths.

WDM links can be used to interconnect large electro-optic switches, asillustrated in FIG. 13. Optical crossconnect switches based on MEMS[see, eg, U.S. Pat. No. 6,574,386] have also provided a means ofswitching at the optical layer, but these switches may need wavelengthdemultiplexers to switch individual wavelengths. Large crossconnectswitches 1310 provide the connectivity required to support large trafficdemands and WDM links 1320 provide the bandwidth between the switches.

Note that this architecture shown in ring 1300 can be costly becauseO-E-O conversions may be required at each switch and bandwidth is beingused to send traffic to and from the centralized switches. Also, thecost of such switches increases with the number of ports and bandwidthper port so that a network based on switches that support trafficbandwidth >1 Tb/s combined with high bandwidth WDM links can have a veryhigh cost. Furthermore, an all-optical switch can have high loss, sothat it requires expensive optical amplifiers to compensate for theloss. There is therefore a need for an optical network architecture thatsupports many high-bandwidth inputs and outputs (>500) with non-blockingswitching and minimal O-E-O conversion for the switching.

15. Network Management and Management Sublayers

Network functionality can be described by the 7-layer OSI model. Opticalnetworking equipment resides mainly at the lowest layer, the PhysicalLayer. For the purposes of describing WDM networks in general and thecurrent invention in particular, the Physical Layer can be divided intosublayers 1400 as shown in FIG. 14.

Except for the wavelength assignment and detection 1431, all of thesublayers shown are optional. For example, transponders do notnecessarily provide electrical mapping, multiplexing, or protectionswitching.

The electrical sublayers 1420 include:

-   -   The mapping sublayer, where client data is received and mapped        to available bandwidth according to the mapping protocol used.    -   The multiplexing sublayer, where electrical data is selectively        added, dropped, or passed through.    -   The protection switching sublayer, which can provide        protocol-based protection, e.g. UPSR or BLSR protection for        SONET-mapped signals, or STP or RPR protection for        ethernet-mapped signals.    -   The next 2 sublayers are typically implemented according to the        ITU G.709 standard that defines OTN frame formats. Path trace        and CRC checks can be inserted into the OTN frame for receive        side monitoring of the signal source and signal quality        respectively.    -   The lowest electrical sublayer provides forward-error correction        encoding and correction.

Of the optical sublayers 1430, the highest sublayer 1431, maps thesignal from the client onto a specific wavelength that is routed overthe network by fixed or tunable optical filters. The optical protectionlayer provides redundant optical paths from the source to destinationand a means for bridging the traffic onto the redundant paths andselecting the received signal from one of the redundant paths accordingto alarms and signaling in the network. The lowest optical sublayerprovides multiple point-to-point connection between two points accordingto the provisions in the higher layers.

Managing a WDM network requires that the network management system (NMS)have a management link 1440 from the NMS server to all of the opticalnetwork elements. The network connections can be provided by an externalIP network, or with dedicated overhead channels that are provisioned onthe optical network. The overhead channel may be mapped directly to oneof the deployed wavelengths, or it may be transmitted over the OTNoverhead channel, e.g. GCC0 in G.709, or in an unused section of thehigher-layer protocol's overhead channel.

Software on the WDM equipment is required to configure, monitor,maintain, and report on all of the functions shown in FIG. 14. Addingnew optical functionality requires adding new management software at theappropriate sublayer.

16. Ensuring Wavelength Accuracy in WDM Networks

In WDM networks, the laser wavelength (or frequency) must be maintainedwithin a certain accuracy so that there is no interference betweenneighboring channels, and there are no penalties from laser-filtermisalignment.

As is the case with all electronic and optical components, theperformance characteristics of the lasers employed in DWDM systemschange with temperature and with time. In particular, the frequency ofemitted laser light changes due to ambient temperature variations(typically from −5deg C. to 65deg C.) and due to aging.

WDM laser frequencies are maintained to a first order by controlling thetemperature of the laser by mounting the laser on a thermoelectriccooler (TEC). Etalons may also be integrated into the laser cavity toprovide a second-order correction. Currently deployed WDM lasers have anaccuracy that is adequate for 50 GHz spacing. There is currently a needfor more accurate means of controlling laser frequencies to space theWDM channels as close together as possible.

II. SUMMARY

Various embodiments of the current invention are disclosed herein,including techniques, apparatus, and systems for optical WDMcommunications that employ tunable lasers to generate respectivesubcarrier frequencies which represent subchannels of an ITU channel towhich client signals can be mapped. Client circuits can be divided andcombined with one another before being mapped, independent of oneanother, to individual subchannels within and across ITU channels.

Novel techniques are employed (at the subchannel level/layer) tofacilitate the desired optical routing, switching, concatenation andprotection of the client circuits mapped to these subchannels across thenodes of a WDM network, resulting in a significant increase in thenumber of optical circuits in a fiber, and thus in the overall bandwidthand spectral efficiency of the WDM network.

Network architectures and subchannel transponders, muxponders andcrossponders are disclosed that map client signals to a set ofsubchannel frequencies. In one embodiment, these architectures employtwo levels of frequency mapping and two cascaded optical filters (onefor filtering WDM channels and one for filtering subchannels).Additional methods of multiplexing channels and subchannels by means ofpolarization multiplexing and related feedback control electronicsystems are also disclosed. Selectively mapping client signals to asubset of the subchannels facilitates network functions such asbroadcast and select transmission, arbitrary concatenation, opticalsource routing, shared optical protection, and simplified networkreconfiguration at a significantly lower cost than is required forcurrently deployed WDM networks.

Subchannel muxponders are disclosed that measure network characteristicssuch as optical signal to noise ratio, chromatic and polarization modedispersion, power levels, and bit error rates. Highly accuratewavelocker circuits are also disclosed that enable the equipment toprovide very dense subchannels with accurate control.

Embodiments of the current invention extend existing WDM network designsby adding a new sublayer to the WDM network architecture between the FECencode layer and the wavelength assignment layer. Novel means ofmapping, multiplexing, switching, and managing sublayer services aredescribed in a common format that scales from small 1 GE and 2.5 Gaccess networks to large regional networks and long-haul networks withcapacity scalable to 17 Tb/s. Novel means of connecting spur traffic toa ring, and interconnecting optical rings without O-E-O conversion, arealso disclosed. Moreover, these techniques are designed so as to enablestandard ITU-T G.692 based (and other legacy) hardware to be reused.

Designs for subchannel transponders, muxponders and crossponders aredisclosed, where client services are mapped to several subchannelswithin an ITU channel (as well as across ITU channels, and combined withother client services employing different signal protocols). Thesesubchannel devices support subchannel routing, restoration andprotection, and direct measurement of the most significant opticalparameters, such as power, OSNR, chromatic dispersion, andpolarization-mode dispersion.

Embodiments of line cards that support these novel architectures arealso described.

Multilayer routing protocols are disclosed that enable network operatorsto easily map services to available bandwidth, while maintaining fullvisibility of the deployed channels and available bandwidth. Means foradiabatically adjusting the network capacity are described to ensureminimal planned or indeliberate service interruption. A novel OSCrouting protocol is described to manage such a network with minimal costoverhead. Other embodiments are disclosed that enable networks to beupgraded from being ITU-channel based to subchannel based.

Because subchannel lasers require a higher degree of accuracy than ITUchannel lasers, methods are disclosed for more accurately controllinglasers, based on a heterodyne measurement against a reference tunablelaser that can be continuously calibrated with a reference gas cell.

III. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate optical ring networks that utilize OC-48SONET add/drop multiplexers and Gigabit Ethernet switches, respectively.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a WDM transponder.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a WDM muxponder.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a point-to-point WDM network employing twofiber-optic cables.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a WDM Ring network with drop filters andadd couplers at each node.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a Broadcast and Select WDM Ring networkwith drop filters and add couplers at each node.

FIG. 7 is a graph illustrating the effect of cascaded ROADMs or WSSfilters on usable C-band bandwidth in an optical network.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating the partitioning of WDM equipmentfunctionality between transponder modules and add/drop filters.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating common misconnections between WDMtransponder modules and add/drop filters.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating interconnected WDM Ring networkswith spur nodes.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating how typical WDM equipment isinstalled and managed in a shelf with management cards and line cards.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a shelf configuration of WDMequipment designed for redundant management.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a WDM Ring network employinglarge crossconnect switches at each node, interconnected via WDM links.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating electrical and optical sublayersof WDM equipment residing at the physical (lowest) layer of the 7-layerOSI model.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a subchannel muxponderof the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of one embodiment of multichannel clockrecovery circuits in a subchannel muxponder of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a subchannel muxponderof the present invention with an electrical crossconnect switch.

FIG. 18 illustrates one embodiment of an overlay of the subchannels ofthe present invention on 100-GHz ITU channels and filters.

FIG. 19 illustrates the characteristics of one embodiment of cyclicalfilters of the present invention.

FIG. 20 illustrates the filtering of subchannels in one embodiment ofthe present invention, where an ITU filter is followed by cyclicalfilters.

FIG. 21 illustrates the filtering of subchannels in one embodiment ofthe present invention, where cyclical filters are followed by an ITUfilter.

FIG. 22 illustrates one embodiment of an overlay of the subchannels ofthe present invention on 50-GHz ITU channels and filters.

FIG. 23 illustrates one embodiment of a pre-emphasis on the subchannelsof the present invention to counteract penalties from the edge of ITUchannel filters.

FIG. 24 illustrates one embodiment of cyclical filters of the presentinvention with cascaded interleavers.

FIG. 25 illustrates one embodiment of a cyclical filter of the presentinvention made with an array waveguide grating (AWG).

FIG. 26 is a graph illustrating the frequency offset from the optimumAWG design frequency (for an AWG cyclical filter of the presentinvention).

FIG. 27 is a graph illustrating the shift in the AWG temperaturesetpoint (for an AWG cyclical filter of the present invention) with theITU channel number.

FIG. 28 is a graph illustrating the shift in the AWG temperaturesetpoint (for an AWG cyclical filter of the present invention) with theambient temperature.

FIGS. 29A and 29B are graphs illustrating changes in superimposed AWGtransmission spectra (for an AWG cyclical filter of the presentinvention) of 4 subchannels for ITU channels 50 and 60 with changes inambient temperature (65 deg C.).

FIGS. 30A and 30B are graphs illustrating changes in superimposed AWGtransmission spectra (for an AWG cyclical filter of the presentinvention) of 4 subchannels for ITU channels 30 and 40 with changes inambient temperature (−5 deg C.).

FIG. 31 is a graph illustrating superimposed AWG transmission spectra(for an AWG cyclical filter of the present invention) of 4 subchannelsfor 40 ITU channels (channels 20-60) at ambient temperature (−5 deg C.).

FIG. 32 is a graph illustrating superimposed AWG transmission spectra(for an AWG cyclical filter of the present invention) of 160 subchannelsfor 40 ITU channels (channels 20-60) at ambient temperature (−5 deg C.).

FIG. 33 is a graph illustrating superimposed AWG transmission spectra(for an AWG cyclical filter of the present invention) of 160 subchannelsfor 40 ITU channels (channels 20-60) at ambient temperature (65 deg C.).

FIG. 34 is a graph illustrating how a shift in channel spacing (for anAWG cyclical filter of the present invention) can be achieved by achange in ambient temperature.

FIG. 35 is a top view of a top enclosure for an AWG wafer (chip)embodying an AWG cyclical filter of the present invention.

FIG. 36 is a bottom view of a top enclosure for an AWG wafer (chip)embodying an AWG cyclical filter of the present invention.

FIG. 37 is a component view of the thermo-mechanical design of an AWGwafer (chip) embodying an AWG cyclical filter of the present invention.

FIG. 38 is a schematic diagram of a high-precision electronic circuit tocontrol the temperature of an AWG wafer (chip) embodying an AWG cyclicalfilter of the present invention.

FIG. 39A illustrates one embodiment of a channel plan for subchannels ofthe present invention with polarization multiplexing.

FIG. 39B is a block diagram of one embodiment of a receive circuit todemultiplex polarization-multiplexed subchannels of the presentinvention.

FIG. 40A is a block diagram of an existing implementation ofpolarization multiplexing in a DWDM network.

FIG. 40B is a block diagram of a novel embodiment of the feedbackcontrol electronics in the dithering scheme employed in theimplementation of polarization multiplexing presented in FIG. 40A.

FIG. 40C is a block diagram of a novel embodiment of the feedbackcontrol electronics in the dithering scheme employed in theimplementation of polarization multiplexing presented in FIG. 40A forf_(dith-2) substantially lower than f_(dith-1).

FIG. 40D is a block diagram of one embodiment of a polarization trackingscheme of the present invention with three dithering frequencies.

FIG. 40E is a block diagram of one embodiment of the feedback controlelectronics for the polarization multiplexed system presented in FIG.40D.

FIG. 40F is a block diagram of one embodiment of the feedback controlelectronics for the polarization multiplexed system presented in FIG.40D for f_(dith-2) substantially lower than f_(dith-2).

FIG. 40G is a block diagram of one embodiment of polarizationmultiplexing feedback control electronics applied to a subchannel-basedDWDM system of the present invention.

FIG. 40H is a block diagram of an alternative embodiment of polarizationmultiplexing feedback control electronics applied to a subchannel-basedDWDM system of the present invention.

FIG. 40I is a block diagram of one embodiment of a polarization trackingscheme of the present invention without dithering lasers on the transmitend.

FIG. 40J is a block diagram of one embodiment of a polarization trackingscheme of the present invention that enables polarization matching ofadded signals to passthrough signals.

FIG. 41 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the mapping of clientservices to subchannels of the present invention.

FIG. 42 is a block diagram of one embodiment of mapping lower-rateclient services to subchannels of the present invention.

FIG. 43 is a block diagram of one embodiment of mapping 40 G clientservices to subchannels of the present invention.

FIG. 44 is a block diagram of a 4-node WDM network with one embodimentof subchannel muxponders of the present invention at Node 1 andlower-rate transponders or muxponders at Nodes 2, 3 and 4.

FIG. 45 is a block diagram of one embodiment of software-controlled 1×2switches of the present invention to selectively direct traffic to theEast or West side of a WDM ring network.

FIG. 46 is a block diagram of one embodiment of software-controlled 1×3switches of the present invention to selectively direct traffic to theEast or West side (or broadcast to both sides) of a WDM ring network.

FIG. 47 is a block diagram illustrating the upgrading of a 10 Gb/slegacy ITU-channel network to employ subchannels of the presentinvention on ITU channels 192.1 THz and 192.2 THz, while maintaining thelegacy 10 Gb/s service on ITU channel 192.3 GHz.

FIG. 48 is a block diagram illustrating the high-capacity transmissionresulting from one embodiment of 10 G subchannel muxponders of thepresent invention.

FIG. 49 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a monitor channel filterof the present invention in an optical network.

FIG. 50 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a circuit of the presentinvention to measure net dispersion of a fiber link due to subchanneldelay times.

FIG. 51 is a graph illustrating the effect of subchannel spacing in thepresent invention on phase detector voltage.

FIG. 52 is a graph illustrating the measurement of polarization-modedispersion based upon the delays between orthogonal subchannels of thepresent invention.

FIG. 53 is a graph illustrating the result of a software-controlledcircuit of the present invention used to monitor the bit error rate(BER) in an optical network as a channel frequency is tuned.

FIG. 54 is a data structure of one embodiment of a diagnosticspreadsheet employed by the present invention that lists deviceregisters as well as expected and actual values.

FIG. 55 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an element managementsystem (EMS) of the present invention with distinct shelves for legacyand new products.

FIG. 56 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an element managementsystem (EMS) of the present invention managing a shelf running twosoftware versions in parallel.

FIG. 57 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the presentinvention in which management data is optionally routed throughout anoptical network.

FIG. 58 is a block diagram illustrating the addition of a subchannelmanagement layer of the present invention to existing WDM managementlayers.

FIG. 59 is a block diagram illustrating the fiber interconnections inone embodiment of a 3-node optical ring network of the present inventionwith degree-2 nodes (i.e., which connect to 2 other nodes).

FIG. 60 illustrates one embodiment of a simple routing table of thepresent invention for intra-node connections for a degree-2 opticalnode.

FIG. 61 illustrates one embodiment of an interconnect routing table ofthe present invention for the 3-node optical network illustrated in FIG.59.

FIG. 62 illustrates a linear representation of the fiber connections ofthe 3-node optical network illustrated in FIG. 59.

FIG. 63 is a block diagram of a subchannel ring network of the presentinvention with subchannel routing.

FIG. 64 is a block diagram illustrating the fiber interconnections inone embodiment of a 4-node optical ring network of the present inventionwith degree-2 nodes (i.e., which connect to 2 other nodes).

FIG. 65 illustrates one embodiment of a subchannel interconnect map ofthe present invention for the 4-node optical network illustrated in FIG.64 with subchannel routing.

FIG. 66 illustrates one embodiment of a subchannel bandwidth map of thepresent invention for the 4-node optical network illustrated in FIG. 64with subchannel routing.

FIG. 67 illustrates the highlighted protected connection in thesubchannel bandwidth map illustrated in FIG. 66.

FIG. 68 illustrates 9 available subchannels (between Node 1, Port 2 andNode 2, Port 5) in the subchannel bandwidth map illustrated in FIG. 66.

FIG. 69 illustrates various embodiments of subchannel payloads of thepresent invention resulting from the mapping of client services tosubchannels.

FIG. 70 is a block diagram illustrating the mapping of client services(10×1 G Ethernet switch cards) to a subchannel of the present invention.

FIG. 71 illustrates one embodiment of a bandwidth map for the subchannelservices illustrated in FIG. 70.

FIG. 72 illustrates one embodiment of a portion of a service statustable of the present invention (listing performance metrics for thetraffic at Node 1) for the subchannel services illustrated in FIG. 70.

FIG. 73 illustrates one embodiment of the configuration of a subchannelmuxponder of the present invention with red/blue filters that direct thetraffic to one of two add ports and one of two drop ports.

FIG. 74 illustrates how the subchannel muxponder of FIG. 73 can bedeployed as a switchable subchannel crossponder of the present inventionsuch that traffic can be redirected away from a span for node insertion.

FIG. 75 illustrates how the subchannel crossponder of FIG. 74 can beused to bridge traffic on two diverse spans to implement protectionswitching in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 76 illustrates an alternative implementation of protectionswitching in the present invention.

FIG. 77 illustrates an alternative implementation of the bridge andswitch functions that implement protection switching in the presentinvention.

FIG. 78 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a subchannel crossponderof the present invention.

FIG. 79 is a block diagram illustrating the deployment of a subchannelmuxponder of the present invention in a dedicated protection mode.

FIG. 80 is a block diagram illustrating the deployment of a subchannelmuxponder of the present invention in a shared protection mode.

FIG. 81 is a block diagram illustrating the deployment of a subchannelmuxponder of the present invention in a shared protection mode where theprotection subchannels are regenerated at an “intermediate node” (notdirectly connected to a cut fiber).

FIG. 82 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a distributed subchannelswitching network of the present invention with up to N (number ofsubchannels) interconnects.

FIG. 83 is a block diagram of a logical mesh, provided by thedistributed subchannel switching network illustrated in FIG. 82, inwhich routing is controlled by tuning subchannel frequencies.

FIG. 84 is a graph illustrating a DWDM signal laser of the presentinvention beating at a fixed frequency with a narrow optical carrierwhile an oscillator laser frequency is scanned.

FIG. 85 is a graph illustrating a DWDM signal laser of the presentinvention beating at a fixed frequency over a broad spectrum while anoscillator laser frequency is scanned.

FIG. 86 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an optical frequencystabilization scheme of the present invention for one DWDM signal laserwith polarizations of both signal and oscillator lasers aligned.

FIG. 87 is a graph illustrating typical absorption lines of a hydrogencyanide (H¹³C¹⁴N) gas cell.

FIG. 88 is a graph illustrating the dependence of the P16 absorptionline spectral position on gas pressure for hydrogen cyanide (H¹³C¹⁴N)

FIG. 89 is a graph illustrating the dependence of the P16 absorptionline FWHM (“Full Width at Half Maximum”) linewidth on gas pressure forhydrogen cyanide (H¹³C¹⁴N).

FIG. 90 is a graph illustrating the absolute frequency accuracy ofhydrogen cyanide (H¹³C¹⁴N) absorption line positions.

FIG. 91 is a graph illustrating the FWHM (“Full Width at Half Maximum”)linewidths of hydrogen cyanide (H¹³C¹⁴N) absorption lines.

FIG. 92 is a graph illustrating the spectral shape of the P16 absorptionline of hydrogen cyanide (H¹³C¹⁴N) at a pressure of 13 kPa (measuredwith a 1 pm scanning step at approximately 74 MHz).

FIG. 93 is a graph illustrating calibration of the oscillator laserfrequency setpoints by reference frequencies of the absorption cell.

FIG. 94 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an optical frequencystabilization scheme of the present invention for one DWDM signal laser(with polarizations of both signal and oscillator lasers aligned) and areference absorption cell.

FIG. 95 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an optical frequencystabilization scheme of the present invention where variations of theoscillator laser optical power are measured and used as a referencesignal.

FIG. 96 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an optical frequencystabilization scheme of the present invention where the absoluteaccuracy of DWDM signal laser frequency is increased by measuring thefrequency prior to data modulation.

FIG. 97 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an optical frequencystabilization scheme of the present invention where there are norestrictions on the state of polarization of the signal laser (and asingle mode fiber can be used for all optical connections except fromthe Tx Laser to the Data Modulator).

FIG. 98 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an absolute wavelengthstabilization scheme of the present invention for multiple DWDM signallasers propagating in dedicated fibers.

FIG. 99 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an absolute wavelengthstabilization scheme of the present invention for multiple DWDM signallasers propagating in a single fiber.

FIG. 100 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a frequency monitoringscheme of the present invention where the DWDM spectrum in a networknode (i.e., all incoming and outgoing optical spectra in all fibers ofthe node) are monitored with ultrahigh absolute accuracy.

FIG. 101 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a circuit of thepresent invention to measure the beat signal between a reference tunablelaser and an array of signal lasers.

FIG. 102 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a circuit of thepresent invention to measure the beat signal between a reference tunablelaser and an array of signal lasers with a polarization controller.

FIG. 103 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a circuit of thepresent invention to measure the beat signal between a reference tunablelaser and an array of signal lasers with a polarization scrambler.

FIG. 104 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a subchannel muxponderof the present invention with integrated DWDM transceivers.

IV. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE CURRENT INVENTION

A. Subchannel Architecture

As noted above, the current invention employs subchannels to increasethe number of optical circuits in a single fiber, and leverages thosesubchannels to fully realize the benefits of the increased bandwidth byfacilitating the desired optical routing, switching, concatenation andprotection of the client circuits mapped to those subchannels. Toillustrate how this subchannel architecture can be implemented in a WDMnetwork, one embodiment of a subchannel muxponder is described, followedby descriptions of the corresponding channel plans, filters andassociated hardware and software used to map client circuits to (andextract them from) subchannels across various nodes of a WDM network.

1. Subchannel Muxponder

One embodiment of a subchannel muxponder 1500 is shown in FIG. 15. Inthis embodiment the subchannel muxponder maps data from client trafficonto four subchannels. Data from the client traffic is terminated withclient optics, 1501, typically pluggable devices such as an XFP, Xenpak,or SFP.

After the optical client signal is converted to an equivalent electricalsignal on the subchannel muxponder, each subchannel's electrical signalscan be processed digitally to optionally (1) extract performancemonitoring information, (2) add channel overhead for remote networkmanagement, and (3) encode the data for forward error correction. Thiscan be done with the SERDES-FEC-SERDES block, 1502(SERDES=Serializer−Deserializer). The 10 Gb/s deserializer converts thedata to parallel streams of lower-rate data that are then processed byan FEC device.

The data is thereby mapped to a subchannel within an FEC frame.Management overhead can optionally be inserted into one or more of theFEC frames. Moreover, in one embodiment, block 1502 can also monitor aclient signal's overhead bytes to extract various data, such as a“destination tag” (e.g., an Ethernet address, IP address, VLAN ID, MPLStag, etc.). The header information can be relayed to the managementsoftware that uses the destination tag to determine the destinationport. The management software can then provision the subchannelfrequency to the frequency assigned to that destination port.

Controlling wavelength switching in an optical network based ondestination tags can, in one embodiment, proceed as follows:

-   1. Network operator provisions switching mechanism, e.g. Virtual    Local Area Network identifiers-   2. Client receiver detects source address (SA) and destination    address (DA)-   3. NE broadcasts SA to other nodes over OSC or in-band overhead-   4. NE broadcasts DA to other nodes paired with receiver ITU channel    and subchannel. ITU channel can be a fixed value (determined by    fixed drop filter) or range of values if ROADM is being used.-   5. The nodes distribute the SA/DA information to build up a    network-wide distributed switch table-   6. Given an associated DA with ITU channel and subchannel, a signal    appearing at a client port causes the source node to tune its    subchannel frequency wavelength to the correct subchannel frequency-   7. If required, ITU channel filter ROADM add/drop/passthrough    channels are tuned accordingly-   8. Client Rx periodically checks the SA/DA and triggers a wavelength    change when the DA changes

Returning to FIG. 15, an optical modulator 1504 modulates a CW laserbeam to produce a modulated laser beam that carries the respective lowerspeed electronic signals 1505. Each tunable laser 1503 is set to an ITUG.692 frequency, with an offset dependent on the subchannel. Thedifferent electronic-to-optical conversion units 1506 are configured tohave different lasers 1503 at different subchannel frequencies that mayor may not be within the same ITU G.692 channel. The subchannel lasers1503 can therefore be (a) assigned to different subchannels withindifferent ITU G.692 windows, and (b) be transmitted to different receivenodes that have different ITU channel filters.

This embodiment can be distinguished from subcarrier multiplexing [suchas was described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,525,857] where a single laser isdeployed for a group of subcarriers. Here, each subchannel has its ownindependently tuned and modulated laser, and each subcarrier can carryindependent protocols. Moreover, there are no restrictions at thetransmit side on the frequency spacing between subchannels, and eachsubchannel can be transmitted in a different ITU channel.

The modulation of each subchannel can be selectively chosen to be one ofmany different types of modulation such as Non-return to Zero,Duobinary, or Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying. Modulationformats with a narrow spectral width, such as duobinary and DQPSK, arefavored because their spectra must pass through the narrow-band filter1525 at the receive side. If duobinary modulation is used, a precoderand low-pass filter 1507 are inserted in the data path. The precoder isused such that the recovered signal is identical to the transmittedsignal. For a duobinary signal of a bandwidth of B, the low-pass filterpassband is set to approximately from 0.2B to 0.3B, in which theelectrical baseband modulation signal swings from −V_(π) to +V_(π) (withthe modulator biased at a minimum point). The modulation signal is thenfed into the optical modulator 1504 to control the optical modulationwhich produces the optical WDM signal 1514.

The light from each subchannel is then combined optically with apolarization combiner, 1:4 coupler, or subchannel multiplexing filter1520. In the illustrated example, the optical polarization of eachsignal is controlled so that two optical WDM channels next to each otherin frequency are orthogonally polarized to each other. The optical WDMchannels in the same polarization are directed into beam combiners 1511and 1512 to produce a combined signal with optical channels in the samepolarization. Two such beam combiners 1511 and 1512 are used, one foreach polarization. The combined signals from the beam combiners 1511 and1512 are directed into a polarization-maintaining directional coupler1513, to produce an output signal that combines all subchannels 1514 sothat any two adjacent subchannels have orthogonal polarizations.

Having adjacent channels launched at orthogonal polarizations minimizescrosstalk penalties at the receiver. However, when the adjacent laserson the subchannel transceiver are allowed to be set to arbitrary ITUG.692 channels and subchannels, the adjacent subchannel at a receivermay be transmitted from completely different source locations. In thiscase it is very difficult to maintain orthogonal polarizations betweenthe adjacent signals. To minimize penalties in this case, an optionalpolarization scrambler 1518 can be inserted in the path to reduce thecrosstalk penalties. Regardless of the means to control polarization ofthe adjacent subchannels, the system impact of adjacent-channelcrosstalk must be quantified and accounted for during the networkengineering. Typically, the crosstalk penalty leads to a slight increasein the required Optical Signal-to-Noise Ratio (OSNR) at the receiver.

A variable optical attenuator (VOA) 1515 combined with a tap coupler andmonitor photodiode 1516 can optionally be used to control the outputpower of the combined subchannels. If the output is too low an optionaloptical amplifier 1517 could also be inserted in the transmit path. Thisoutput signal is transmitted through a single fiber connected to theline output port that is connected to an optical network. Note that itis preferable to use a VOA to control the output power, rather thanadjusting the laser power. Keeping the laser power fixed in time (afterinitial calibration) simplifies the control circuits that maintain thetransmit eye quality. The optical network transmits the subchannels fromthe transmit node through optical fiber waveguides to the receive node.

On the receive side an optical amplifier and/or variable attenuator canbe used to control the received power. In this example, the ITU G.692channel WDM demultiplexer 1521 is used to receive the light from thenetwork and select the subchannels in a single ITU channel to bedirected to the Line Input port of the subchannel transceiver.

On the receive side of the transceiver an optional optical amplifier1522 (e.g. an EDFA) can be used to amplify the received signal. Anoptical attenuator 1523 with tap coupler and monitoring photodiode 1524after the amplifier 1522 can be used to ensure that the amplified signaldoes not overload the photodetectors 1530. Furthermore, control softwarecan be used to control the variable optical attenuator VOA 1523 so thatthe optical power incident on each photodetector 1530 is kept very closeto the ideal incident power of the photodetector 1530, therebyoptimizing system performance. Preferably, EDFA 1522 is kept at highgain (hence low noise and high optical signal to noise ratio) and usesthe VOA 1523 to optimize the received powers.

Note that the EDFA 1522 and VOA 1523 at the receiver can be shared amongthe subchannels, dedicated to a single subchannel, or not used at all.These choices depend on the requirements for the reach of the subchannelmuxponder and the cost targets.

The composite signal containing the subchannels is then directed to anUltra-dense WDM filter 1525 that separates the subchannels to outputpaths 1526. The cyclical filter 1525 described below requires that thesubchannel spacing be equal to the ITU frequency spacing (in GHz)divided by an integer M. In the case when the bit rate per subchannel ison the order of 11 Gb/s, the channel spacing is typically set at 10 or12.5 GHz.

Multiple optical detectors 1530 are used to respectively receive anddetect the separated optical subchannel signals, with one subchannel perdetector, to produce electronic signals 1535 that are directed back tothe FEC blocks 1502. Each electronic signal path may include anelectrical equalizer that is typically integrated into thephotodetector's transimpedance amplifier or deserializer. The equalizercan mitigate the eye distortion, either due to static band-limitingeffects caused by the electrical or optical pre-filtering in the opticaltransmitter module, or due to fiber chromatic dispersion.

The SERDES-FEC-SERDES block 1502 then decodes the FEC frame, correctsthe errors according to the FEC algorithm, demaps the data, andoptionally provides performance monitoring information on the data thatis directed to the client transmit optical transceivers 1501.

Note that each subchannel has independent clock recovery and generationcircuitry to support different data rates and protocols. One embodimentof these circuits is shown in detail in FIG. 16.

Circuit 1600 in FIG. 16 shows one embodiment of independent clockcircuits for the subchannel timing of the SERDES-FEC-SERDES block. Eachclient-side clock recovery unit (CRU) 1630 has a multi-rate referenceclock 1620 that can be set independently for each subchannel's referenceclock rate. A transmit digital phase-locked loop (PLL) 1610 for eachsubchannel multiplies the recovered client clock by a factor thatprovides the FEC rate clock. Similarly, the line side SERDES has amulti-rate reference clock 1640 for each subchannel receiver CRU 1660,and a receive PLL 1650 is used to convert the subchannel FEC rate clockto the subchannel client rate. The reference clocks 1620 and 1640 canalso be used as the source clocks to transmit maintenance signals, suchas an OTN AIS (Alarm Insertion Signal) when the client services are inan alarm state or out of service. Note that running each client serviceon an independent subchannel maintains the end-to-end synchronization ofeach client service. Compared to implementations that use electronicmultiplexing to combine 10 Gb/s client services into a native 40 Gb/sservice, this invention provides a distinct advantage for applicationssuch as SONET and Synchronous Ethernet that require end-to-endsynchronization of the client signals.

The subchannel muxponder (e.g., subchannel muxponder 1500 from FIG. 15)supports capacity upgrades of ITU channel-based networks. Thetransmission symbol rate (e.g., 10 Gbaud) per subchannel is equivalentto an existing low-data rate (e.g., 10 Gb/sec), which is already runningon the incumbent infrastructure. This limits signal degradations causedby network impairments such as chromatic dispersion (CD),polarization-mode dispersion (PMD), and amplifier noise within theincumbent optical fiber infrastructure. Therefore, if the fiber networkhas been designed to work at line rates of 10 Gb/s the networkinfrastructure (amplifiers and dispersion compensation modules) need notbe changed when implementing the subchannel optical transceiver sincethe bit-rate dependent penalties of the subchannel and ITU channel areequivalent. In this embodiment, the subchannel muxponder can be used toincrease the available bandwidth in an ITU channel by four times withoutchanging or modifying the network. Furthermore, allowing the controlsoftware to provision the subchannel laser wavelengths at different ITUchannels enables the subchannel muxponder to perform optical routingbased on the subchannel frequencies.

To optimize optical performance it may be required to balance the powersof the subchannels. This can be accomplished after the subchannelmuxponder is activated by turning on one laser at a time, recording thepower on the tap photodiode of each laser and applying an offset to eachlaser to compensate for the power differences. This balancing can bedone at low output power with the VOA at or near full attenuation.

FIG. 17 shows another embodiment of a subchannel muxponder 1700 with anelectronic crossconnect. The crossconnect switch 1750 is added betweenthe SERDES and external FEC blocks and provides further switching androuting functionality as described below. Note that the SERDES, FEC, andcrossconnect functions can be integrated into a single VLSI device 1760.

2. Channel Plans

An example of a channel plan 1800 followed by the disclosed design isshown in FIG. 18. In this embodiment, the carriers 1810 are spaced 12.5GHz apart centered around ITU channels 1820 spaced at 100 GHz. There isa guard band 1830 between the ITU channels 1820 where no carriers arepresent. This allows for bandwidth narrowing of the ITU channel as itpasses through optical elements in the transmission network.

In this embodiment of the present invention, tunable lasers are used togenerate each subchannel, so that any client signal can be transmittedon any of the subchannels.

The receiver demultiplexing required in this network consists of twostages. The first stage is comprised of fixed, tunable, orreconfigurable ITU-T G.692 channel filters that may be built withtechnologies such as (but not limited to) thin-film filters, ArrayWaveguide Gratings, MEMS arrays, or diffraction gratings. The secondstage of demultiplexing in this network consists of a narrow-bandcyclical or tunable filter to select one of the subchannels within theITU passband. Example of a cyclical filter are the Array WaveguideGrating and cascaded interleavers.

A common characteristic of cyclical filters in this network design isthat the nth subchannel in each ITU window is directed to the nth outputport, as shown in channel plan 1900 in FIG. 19, and implemented bycyclical filter 1910.

To fully separate each carrier, the cyclical filter is cascaded with anITU channel filter as shown in FIG. 20. In this example filteringarchitecture 2000, a standard 100-GHz ITU channel filter 2010 is used asthe first filtering stage. This design therefore supports an upgrade ofan installed WDM system that uses 100 GHz channel filters. The upgradecan be implemented gradually over time so that any port of the ITUchannel filter 2010 in FIG. 20 can be used to drop a legacy ITU channelsignal.

The same filtering of subchannels can also be achieved by placing theITU channel filters 2110 after the cyclical filter 2120 as shown in thefiltering architecture 2100 of FIG. 21.

Another example of a channel plan 2200 is shown in FIG. 22. In this casethe subchannels 2210 are centered around the ITU channels 2220 at 50 GHzspacing. In this case the 100 GHz carriers can be separated from the 50GHz carriers with (1) Two separate cyclical filters, one for the 100 GHzgrid and one for the 50 GHz grid, or (2) a cyclical filter that can beshifted between the two grids by temperature tuning for example, or (3)a cyclical filter with 8 ports, 4 for the 100 GHz channels, and 4 forthe 50 GHz channels.

When the subchannels are spaced as in FIG. 22, the outer channels, i.e.SC-1 and SC-4, can be attenuated by the edges of the ITU channel filter.This attenuation and its subsequent bit-error rate penalty can bemitigated, as shown in channel plan 2300 in FIG. 23, by adding powerand/or frequency pre-emphasis on the outer carriers. This is done byshifting the outer subchannels 2310 toward the ITU channel's centerfrequency 2320 and boosting their transmit powers by adjusting the lasertransmit powers. This pre-emphasis can be adjusted by software dependingon the penalties on the edge subchannels.

The optical network in one embodiment uses a transmitter module thatcombines a plurality of subchannels (in the examples shown herein, 4subchannels are used, but any number greater than 1 could be employed).Furthermore, the examples shown above are given for the case where thedata mapped to the carrier is approximately 10 Gb/s, but the samemethodology could be extended to any arbitrary rate per carrier.

3. Details on the Cyclical Filter

The cyclical filter can be an interleaver [see, eg, U.S. Pat. No.7,257,287], cascaded interleavers, or an array waveguide grating (AWG)[see, eg, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,594,049, 4,904,042, and 5,600,742]. For theinterleaver case, shown in cyclical filtering architecture 2400 in FIG.24, a 4-channel 12.5 GHz cyclical filter can be made by cascading a 12.5GHz interleaver 2410 with two 25 GHz interleavers 2420 a and 2420 b.Note that centering the subchannels on the ITU grid requires that thesubchannels and interleavers are offset from the ITU grid by half thesubchannel spacing, which is 6.25 GHz in this example. In the case of anodd number of subchannels (eg, 5 subchannels), the central subchannel isnot offset from the ITU grid.

Another embodiment of the cyclical filter is based on array waveguidegrating (AWG) technology [see, eg, U.S. Pat. No. 6,594,049]. Theprinciple of operation of cyclical AWG 2500 is shown in FIG. 25. In thisexample the AWG 2500 has a channel spacing of 12.5 GHz. For anapplication using 100 GHz channel spacing, the four middle output portscan be used to select the four subchannels adjacent to the ITU grid.

The channel spacing of a cyclical AWG is based on wavelength and the ITUchannel spacing is based on frequency. This discrepancy causes afrequency offset for channels that are further from the AWG optimumdesign frequency. This offset is illustrated in graph 2600 in FIG. 26.

Such use of an AWG may not yield sufficient accuracy for applicationssuch as the subchannel demultiplexer that need frequency accuracy withina fraction of the accuracy required by ITU channel filters. In suchcases, a new way of controlling the temperature of an optical filterprovides more accurate operation of the filter within a wide range ofoptical frequencies and ambient temperatures.

The performance characteristics of the optical filters employed in DWDMsystems change with temperature and over time. In particular, a centralfrequency of bandpass optical filters change due to ambient temperaturevariations (typically from −5deg C. to 65deg C.), and due to aging. Thecenter frequency of an AWG is temperature dependent with a shiftapproximately equal to 1.5 GHz/° C. In applications requiring highaccuracy of the filter spectral response, such as WDM channel filtering,the temperature of the filter is controlled by mounting it on a heateror thermoelectric cooler, and using control circuits to maintain thevoltage reading on a thermistor inside the filter package.

The close spacing of the subchannels as described herein can be mademore accurate with refinement of the AWG design and controls. First, thechange in subchannel offset with frequency can be compensated byshifting the AWG chip temperature when the ITU channel is changed (see,eg, top of FIG. 28). Second, the ideal AWG chip temperature set pointdepends on the ambient or case temperature (see, eg, bottom of FIG. 28).Therefore, the AWG channel spacing can be made more accurate bycalibrating the performance over wavelength and ambient temperature fordifferent control set points, and then adjusting the control set pointin normal operations depending on the ITU channel and ambienttemperature. Examples of this calibration are shown in both graph 2700in FIG. 27 and graph 2800 in FIG. 28. The vertical temperature scale inthese figures is expressed in a change of a thermistor resistance.

Several examples of the AWG performance under different operatingconditions such as ambient temperature, AWG temperature setpoint and ITUchannel are presented in the graphs shown in FIGS. 29-33. These graphsdemonstrate that, by adjusting the setpoint temperature of the AWG chipaccording to changes of ambient temperature and the ITU channel ofinterest, the center frequency accuracy of the AWG subchannel spectracan be kept within the limits required by the system specifications.

The shift in AWG channel spacing with AWG chip temperature can also beused to select a different subset of carriers. This is shown in graph3400 in FIG. 34, where the operating temperature has been shifted byapproximately 30 deg C. to shift the channel spacing by 50 GHz. Applyingthis temperature shift enables one to use the same AWG to demultiplexfour subchannels on the 100 GHz grid with the normal setpoint, or foursubchannels on the 50 GHz grid with the setpoint shifted byapproximately 30 deg C..

Thermo-Mechanical Considerations

A high precision and accuracy of the AWG chip temperature requires awell-designed mechanical enclosure. A detailed design of such anenclosure is presented in FIGS. 35-37.

In one embodiment:

-   -   An aluminum small top cover for the AWG chip is employed, such        as top cover 3510 in FIG. 35 (a bottom view of which is        illustrated in FIG. 36). This aluminum top cover 3510 is        thermally well attached to the existing bottom aluminum heat        spreader 3520.    -   A second thermistor 3530 to monitor the AWG chip temperature is        attached directly to the AWG chip wafer 3540, as close as        possible to the optical waveguides at the wafer center.    -   The case 3710 (shown in FIG. 37) is filled with polyurethane        foam 3720, including space between the aluminum wafer cover and        plastic top case cover.    -   A third thermistor 3730 is mounted on the bottom of the case        3710 to measure ambient temperature.

Electronics Considerations

The required high precision and accuracy of the AWG chip temperaturealso requires accurate control electronics, one embodiment of which 3800is presented in FIG. 38, which shows a Thomson bridge implementation ofthe chip temperature sensing with 3 Ultra-precise resistors and the AWGchip thermistor. Note that the ADC is probing the Thomson bridgedifferentially.

4. Subchannel Multiplexer with Polarization Multiplexing andDemultiplexing

Many of the embodiments of the present invention discussed above,including those relating to optical network topologies and variousnetwork elements, are based on wavelength-division multiplexing—wheredifferent frequencies of light represent different ITU transmissionchannels and their subchannels.

Data transport capacity of such networks can be doubled when, inaddition to wavelength multiplexing, polarization multiplexing isemployed. Various polarization multiplexing schemes can be applied tothe wavelength multiplexing systems described herein, including thoseimplementing subchannel-based architectures.

As will be illustrated below, polarization multiplexing can be used as ameans of increasing the subchannel spectral density. An example of achannel plan 3900 for subchannels in this case is shown in FIG. 39A.Here the first five subchannels (SC-1 to SC-5) are aligned along onepolarization axis 3910 and the last five subchannels (SC-6 to SC-10) arealigned along the second polarization axis 3920.

In this embodiment, the subchannel transmit laser can be combined withcascaded polarization combiners, similar to combiners 1511 and 1512 inFIG. 15. At the receive side the subchannels in orthogonal polarizationscan be demultiplexed with the circuit 3950 shown in FIG. 39B. In thiscircuit, a polarization coupler 3960 is used to separate the orthogonalpolarizations. A polarization controller 3970 is placed in front of thepolarization coupler 3960 to align the subchannel polarization axes tothe axes of the polarization coupler 3960.

The alignment circuit 3950 shown in FIG. 39B detects the strength of thesubchannel signals in one polarization. This circuit 3950 assumes that alow-amplitude dither at a fixed frequency (250 kHz in this embodiment)is superimposed on the signal transmitters using the first polarization.The control electronics and software monitor the strength of thereceived dither signal 3962 and adjust the polarization controller 3970to maximize the signal.

Key elements of the circuit shown in FIG. 39B include:

-   -   A photodetector 3963 detecting the fraction of light in one of        the outputs of the polarization coupler/splitter;    -   A band pass filter (to filter a dither frequency) with an        adjustable gain 3964, where the gain adjustment is based on the        optical signal power incoming from a line fiber to the receiver.        The gain-adjusting algorithm assures that the amplitude of the        dither signal at the filter/gain stage output does not change        significantly with significant changes of incoming optical        power;    -   A clock recovery circuit 3965 to recover the dither frequency        with substantially low time constant;    -   A lock-in amplifier 3966 which, synchronously with the recovered        clock, detects the amplitude of the dither signal changing due        to polarization changes of the incoming optical signal; and    -   A lock-in amplifier 3967 with substantially smaller time        constant of its output integrator than that of the dither clock        recovery circuitry 3965 to provide a fast feedback signal to the        polarization controller-tracker 3970.

This circuit can be implemented employing analog electronics circuitry,or the signal processing can be performed in the digital domain (eg, bya DSP) after the photodiode analog signal is converted into the digitaldomain. Furthermore, both orthogonal polarizations can be dithered atdifferent frequencies; two electronics dither processing circuits can beused in parallel, each optimized for one of the two dither frequencies,respectively.

Although it has the added cost of the polarization controller 3970, thisdesign of a subchannel muxponder has the advantage that it can doublethe spectral density by using polarization as an additional dimension.This embodiment, however, does not support routing of subchannels fromdifferent sites to the same subchannel receiver since there is only onepolarization demultiplexer per receiver. Polarization-multiplexedsubchannels from different sites could be demultiplexed, though thatwould require one polarization controller per subchannel.

a. Existing Implementation of Polarization Multiplexing

One embodiment of an implementation 4000 a of polarization multiplexingis presented in FIG. 40A. For a given wavelength, ₁, of a DWDM system,two independent data channels are being used: Tx-1 4001 a and Tx-2 4002a. The output light of both lasers is linearly polarized and bothpolarizations are combined into a single fiber by a polarization beamcombiner (PBC) 4005 a in such a way that the polarizations of Tx-1 4001a and Tx-2 4002 a are linear and orthogonal on the transmit side.

Both multiplexed polarization channels are added to the network andpropagate through a variety of optical components of the network such asnodes, wavelength multiplexers and demultiplexers, fiber, EDFAs, Ramanamplifiers, interleavers, ROADMs, WSSs and so forth. During thepropagation, the state of polarization of each channel Tx-1 4001 a andTx-2 4002 a changes due to birefringent effects of optical networkcomponents. Moreover, since the birefringent effects evolve over time,the state of polarization changes randomly on the receive end where thewavelength, ₁ 4007 a, is dropped.

Random changes of polarization act on both channels in such a way thatthe state of polarization at the receive end of Tx-1 light is stillorthogonal to the state of polarization of Tx-2 light. Therefore,polarization demultiplexing can be performed as long as randompolarization of each (or in fact one) channel is changed to a linearpolarization with a known orientation, and the channels aredemultiplexed by a polarization beam splitter/combiner (PBC) 4015 a.

A change from random polarization to a linear polarization can beperformed by commercially available Polarization Trackers, such aspolarization tracker 4010 a. Since dropped polarization changes overtime, a polarization tracker needs to follow these changes and correctincoming polarization accordingly. This is typically accomplished by afeedback loop 4020 a which detects the polarization state at the outputof the polarization tracker and provides a control signal 4022 a to thetracker 4010 a to assure that the polarization is linear, and a properpolarization channel is directed to a proper receiver—i.e. the lightfrom Tx-1 reaches the receiver Rx-1 4011 a, and Tx-2 reaches Rx-2 4012a, respectively. Several known implementations of such feedbackmechanisms are described on the General Photonics website(http://www.generalphotonics.com/articles.aspx?a=1073).

One of these implementations presents a scheme 4000 a shown in FIG. 40Ain which (on the transmit end) the amplitude of Tx-1 4001 a is modulatedby a small sine wave signal at frequency f_(dith-1)=100 kHz. Themodulation depth typically does not exceed a few percent of the averagelight intensity. The amplitude of Tx-2 4002 a is not modulated at all.

At the receive end the polarization tracker dithers polarization at afrequency f_(dith-2) and a photodiode monitors light intensity in onearm of the polarization beam splitter. The photodetector detects lightfrom Tx-1 4001 a and Tx-2 4002 a, both dithered in intensity byf_(dith-2). In addition, the light from Tx-1 4001 a is also dithered inintensity by f_(dith-1).

The signal 4014 a from the photodetector 4013 a is processed by feedbackcontrol electronics 4020 a and input as a feedback signal 4022 a to thepolarization tracker 4010 a.

For control purposes: (i) the dithering of the tracker 4010 a atf_(dith-2) is used to determine the direction in which to adjust thepolarization in order to track it, if needed, to accomplish polarizationdemultiplexing; and (ii) the dithering of the Tx-1 4001 a at f_(dith-1)is used to maximize the amplitude of this dither in the Rx-1 arm of thePBC 4015 a at the receive end and direct a proper transmitter signal toa proper receiver.

Various novel implementations of this basic approach to polarizationmultiplexing are described below.

b. A Particular Implementation of the Feedback Control Electronics inFIG. 40A

FIG. 40B presents a particular implementation 4000 b of the feedbackcontrol electronics in the dithering scheme presented in FIG. 40A. Inthis embodiment, two electrical circuits are processing in parallel: (i)a Tx-2 dither at frequency f_(dith-1) and (ii) a polarization trackerdither at frequency f_(dith-2).

The abbreviations in FIG. 40B include the following:

BPF—band pass filter

LP—low pass filter

RMS—root mean square

TZ—transimpedance amplifier

ADD—adding two electrical analog voltages

As shown in FIG. 40B, just before the feedback signal 4022 b is input tothe polarization tracker 4010 b, it is amplified by a variable gainamplifier 4025 b, where the amplifier gain is adjusted appropriately toaccommodate for changes in optical input power of a dropped channelwhile keeping at a constant value the average voltage of the feedbacksignal at the input of the polarization tracker. Alternatively, thevariable gain amplifier can be placed at the output of a TZ 4030 b.

The RMS detector 4035 b (such as LTC1968 from Linear Technologies) canbe replaced by a combination of a clock recovery circuit 4036 brecovering dither frequency at f_(dith-1) followed by a lock-inamplifier 4037 b which transforms its AC input signal into DC.

In a case when f_(dith-2) is substantially lower than f_(dith-1), twoparallel paths can be realized as shown in FIG. 40C.

The processing algorithms shown in FIG. 40B and FIG. 40C (and all otherFigures discussed herein and illustrating embodiments of polarizationmultiplexing) can be implemented by using analog electronics or DSP inthe digital domain. In the latter case, the TZ output signal could besampled by an ADC, and DSP processing output could drive a DAC andprovide feedback voltage to the polarization tracker.

One advantage of such solutions over existing art is that, in eachparallel signal processing path, different processing can beimplemented—e.g. different gain, different spectral transfer function(e.g. shape of a BPF, LPF), etc.

c. A Novel Polarization Multiplexed System Based on 3 DitheringFrequencies

A known method of implementing dithers (see FIG. 40A) can besignificantly improved by adding an additional third dither to Tx-2 at afrequency f_(dith-3) 4050 d as presented in FIG. 40D.

d. A Particular Implementation of the Feedback Control Electronics inFIG. 40D

A particular implementation 4000 e of feedback control electronics forthree dithering frequencies is presented in FIG. 40E. In thisembodiment, both dithers at the receive end are detected in two parallelarms of the feedback control electronics, and after filtering they aresubtracted.

As a result, dithering amplitude at frequency f_(dith-1) is maximizedand dithering amplitude at f_(dith-3) is minimized, providingsubstantially better extinction ratio of polarization tracking. As abovewith respect to FIG. 40D, parallel paths can be implemented in twodifferent ways depending on the relationship between the values off_(dith-2) and f_(dith-1)—cf FIG. 40E to FIG. 40F.

e. Subchannel-Based DWDM Implementations of the Above PolarizationMultiplexing Schemes

The techniques in the above embodiments of dithering and feedbackcontrol electronics can be further enhanced by introducing subchannels(as discussed above) to the ITU grid of frequencies. FIG. 40Gillustrates one of the possible embodiments (employing subchannels 4075g) based on the control electronics illustrated in FIG. 40B.

While all of the dithering and feedback control electronics schemesdiscussed above can be applied to the subchannel architecture 4000 gpresented in FIG. 40G, one such example 4000 h (with respect to thefeedback control electronics illustrated in FIG. 40C) is illustrated inFIG. 40H.

f. A Polarization Multiplexing System without Dithering of TransmittingLasers

In the polarization tracking schemes described above, one or more ditherfrequencies are required on the transmit end. In many applications,introducing dither at the transmit end and detecting it at the receiveend may not be practical. For example, during propagation of the signalfrom the transmit end to the receive end, the dither signal applied tothe transmitters can be distorted to the extent that it is not usefulanymore at the receive end as a valid signal for a feedback loop totrack polarization. FIG. 40I illustrates a novel embodiment 4000 i of apolarization tracking scheme applied to the subchannel architecture ofthe present invention which does not require any dithering at thetransmit end.

In this scheme, the distinction between two orthogonal polarizations onthe transmit end is implemented in the wavelength domain, i.e.subchannels in orthogonal polarizations are offset by half of thesubchannel spacing, as shown in element 4080 i. Note that the wavelengthoffset between subchannels in two orthogonal polarizations does not needto be exactly half of the subchannel spacing; the offset can be anywherebetween half the channel spacing to zero offset. The selection of theoffset in any particular implementation may depend on the accuracy ofthe polarization tracker and the allowed total signal bandwidth. Thefeedback control electronics is designed to maximize light intensity ofone or more subchannels (or all subchannels in both polarizations) afterthe input signal is demultiplexed into separate single subchannels. Theparticular embodiment 4000 i presented in FIG. 40I shows a case of thefeedback control electronics maximizing intensity of two subchannels—onefor each polarization as an example. Note that instead of tapping theoutput of each cyclical filter, the signals can be taken from thereceiver bias currents.

In these polarization tracking schemes, there can be a requirement foran add/drop node where signals are being added to the optical network atthe same node where signals are optically passing through. Whenpolarization multiplexing of subchannels is used as shown in FIG. 39A,there can be a requirement to match the polarization of the addedsignals to the polarization of the passthrough signals. The embodiment4000 j presented in FIG. 40J shows a polarization recovery module 4010 jthat monitors the polarization of signals coming into a node and adjustsa polarization tracker 4020 j so that the polarization of the signal atthe output of the polarization tracker 4020 j is aligned with a linearaxis of a polarization maintaining coupler 4030 j.Polarization-maintaining fibers 4040 j are used on the add side of thenode to ensure that the polarization of the added signals is alignedwith the passthrough signals. The embodiment shown is for the case of a1×2 WSS node. Those skilled in the art will recognize that a similardesign can be used for other types of passthrough nodes where apolarization tracker with a design shown in one of the embodiments ofFIGS. 40A-40I is used to align the incoming signal polarizations to alinear axis of the add/drop node and polarization maintaining fibers andoptical components are used in the node to ensure that signals are beingadded along the same linear axis.

5. Subchannel Mapping of Client Services on the Subchannel Muxponder

Client data can be mapped to the subchannels as shown in FIG. 41, inwhich data from independent 10 Gb/s sources 4110 is mapped directly toeach subchannel 4120. In each 10 G data path an FEC encoding device 4125(either an FPGA or ASIC) is used to encode the data according to anerror correction algorithm that improves the optical performance [G.709and G.975]. Overhead (OH) data can also be inserted in the FEC overheadto enable the exchange of OAM&P (operations, administration,maintenance, and provisioning) data to be exchanged between theterminals.

Note that a 10 Gb/s crossconnect 4115 may be inserted between the inputdata 4110 and the subchannels 4120. This may be either a digital oranalog electronic crossconnect, or optical crossconnect [see, eg, U.S.Pat. No. 6,574,386]. It can also be a protocol-dependent switch such asan ethernet switch. This enables more flexible functionality asdescribed below.

The design 4100 shown in FIG. 41 is flexible in that any 10 G protocol(e.g., 10 GE, OC-192, FC-10, etc.) can be connected to any input port4110. Each port 4110 has independent clock recovery and clockmultiplication circuits, and can be assigned, via optional crossconnectswitch 4115, to any subchannel 4120. After the data associated with eachsubchannel 4120 is encoded (and overhead data inserted) via FEC encodingdevice 4125, such data is then sent to be modulated onto thesubchannel's associated subcarrier wavelength 4130.

It should be noted that tuning a laser to map a client circuit to asubchannel may require a relative long period of time, e.g.,approximately a minute. Yet, if a subchannel laser has already beentuned to a particular frequency (subcarrier wavelength), and a clientcircuit is being mapped to that subchannel via crossconnect switch 4115,then the process will typically require much less time, as the switchingtime of a switch such as crossconnect switch 4115 is typically muchfaster than the time required to tune or retune a laser.

FIG. 42 shows an embodiment 4200 where standard digital multiplexing andswitching circuits 4212 are used to multiplex lower rate data 4210 up to10 Gb/s. With modular data mapping and multiplexing, any subchannel cancarry either a native 10 Gb/s service or multiplexed lower-rateservices.

FIG. 43 shows a third mapping method 4300 where data 4310 with abandwidth greater than the per-carrier bandwidth is transmitted. In thisembodiment, the client data 4310 is inverse multiplexed (via inversemultiplexer 4313) to divide the data into 4 separate data streams 4314(each of which can be assigned to a respective subchannel 4320, e.g.,via optional crossconnect 4315). Inverse multiplexing is well known inthe art. For example, IMA (Inverse Multiplexing for ATM) is astandardized technology used to transport ATM traffic over a bundle ofT1 or E1 cables using inverse multiplexing.

In the mapping method 4300 shown in FIG. 43, inverse multiplexing can beimplemented in an Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) orApplication-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). Inverse multiplexing atthe transmit side must be done in such a way that the original trafficstream can be recovered at the receiver. Inverse multiplexed datastreams have frame markers for the receiver to re-align the data. Theframe markers can be based on standard protocols, such as SONET, or theycan be proprietary. The receiver also has buffers to hold data before itis realigned. The buffers typically have enough memory to compensate forany skew in the network caused by variations in the propagation speed ofthe different inverse multiplexed data streams.

6. Line Interface Between Subchannel Muxponders and Lower-RateTransponders and Muxponders

In network applications where lower-bandwidth satellite nodes feed intoa hub node, there is a need for a cost effective solution that supportshigh bandwidth at the hub and low bandwidth at the satellite nodes. Thiscan be achieved by an application with subchannel muxponders at the hubnode and lower-rate transponders or muxponders at the satellite nodes.This requires that the lower-rate transponders have (1) the same lasertuning capability as the subchannel muxponder (2) a modulation formatthat is compatible with the subchannel muxponder modulation, and (3)optical filtering to select the subchannels. The optical filtering maybe ITU channel filtering only, as long as the subchannel muxponders arenot using more than one subchannel per ITU channel.

FIG. 44 shows an application 4400 with a pair of subchannel muxpondersC1-C2 at Node 1 and pairs of lower-rate transponders (C3-C4, C5-C6 andC7-C8) at Nodes 3, 4, and 5, respectively. The subchannel muxponder hasits transmit subchannels set as (1) ITU-210, SC-1, (2) ITU-220, SC-2,(3) ITU-230, SC-3, and (4) unassigned. A single ITU channel filter (froma FOADM or ROADM) at the satellite nodes (e.g., drop filter 4410 at Node2) can be used to filter out the subchannels from the subchannelmuxponder. Each transponder at the satellite nodes must be set totransmit at one of the subchannel frequencies being received at Node 1.In this embodiment, the transponders at Node 1 are set to ITU 200, SC-1;the transponders at Node 2 are set to ITU-200, SC-2; and thetransponders at Node 3 are set to ITU-200, SC-3. These subchannels arethen dropped by the cyclical filter in the subchannel muxponders atNode 1. Note that this application 4400 requires that the lasers in thelower-rate transponders must have the same degree of accuracy as thesubchannel muxponder lasers.

B. Dynamic Network Visibility—Facilitating Network Upgrades and Reuse ofLegacy Equipment

Even when improved functionality is available, such as the novelsubchannel architectures described above, it is still desirable tominimize the time and expense, as well as disruption to live networks,associated with upgrading hardware and software, as well as to reuselegacy equipment whenever feasible. Various novel techniques along theselines are described below.

1. Network Upgrades with Minimal Disruption and No East-West Ambiguity

As mentioned above, and shown in FIG. 9, it can be difficult to ensureproper connections between modular line cards, such as muxponders andadd/drop filters. In ring networks, mistakes can occur between the eastand west connections. The control and monitoring of added signals canalso be facilitated if the fixed or reconfigurable filter module hasmonitors on all of its input ports. These monitors do not preventmisconnections, but they do provide a means of troubleshootingmisconnections.

We propose two other methods of removing the east-west ambiguity andselectively routing traffic in either direction or both directions. Thefirst is shown in FIG. 45 where the muxponder 4510 is connected to apair of 1×2 software-controlled switches 4520 that control the directionof transmission and reception.

If an option for broadcast to both directions is required, as withprotected circuits, then the embodiment shown in FIG. 46 can be used toselectively transmit the traffic to the east, west, or both directions.The software-controlled switches 4520 in FIGS. 45 and 4620 in FIG. 46remove the east-west ambiguity and enable network operators to remotelyreconfigure the direction of the traffic.

This embodiment 4600 is independent of the type of channel multiplexingand demultiplexing used to add and drop channels from the network. Forexample, it can be connected to ROADMs and WSS networks.

2. ITU-Channel Based Network Upgrades to Subchannel Networks

Cascaded ITU channel filters and cyclical filters can be used to upgradethe capacity of WDM networks based on the ITU grid. FIG. 47 gives anexample of a legacy ITU channel-based WDM network 4700 that has beenupgraded with subchannels 4710 a and 4710 b on ITU channels 192.1 GHz4720 a and 192.2 GHz 4720 b, respectively. In this embodiment, thesubchannels increase the capacity of those ITU channels by a factor of4. Having the subchannels 4710 a and 4710 b at the same bit rate as thelegacy ITU services 4720 c (on ITU channel 192.3 GHz 4720 c) means thatthey have similar link budget rules as the ITU services. This upgradecan therefore be done without significant changes to the fiber plant anddispersion compensators since the subchannels 4710 a and 4710 b aretransmitting at the same date rate (10 Gb/s in this example) as the ITUchannels that are being replaced.

The network upgrade is further simplified by the high dynamic range (>20dB) of the subchannel transmitter (provided by the VOA 1515 in FIG. 15)and the subchannel receiver (provided by the EDFA 1522 and VOA 1523 inFIG. 15). These ranges demonstrate that a legacy network can be upgradedwithout adding power control elements to the network such as fixedattenuators.

Currently installed ITU channel networks can therefore be upgradedincrementally according to bandwidth demands, with minimal changes tothe installed infrastructure (ITU channel filters, amplifiers, anddispersion management). Being able to reuse the ITU hardware provides adistinct cost advantage. Subchannel muxponders also provide additionalfunctionality as described below.

The subchannel upgrade described herein supports a very large networkcapacity. For example, FIG. 48 shows a network capacity of 7.0 Tb/s with704 subchannels. Subchannels are spaced at 12.5 GHz in both theConventional (C-band) and Long-wavelength (L-band) bands. Not only doesthis subchannel embodiment 4800 provide large capacity, it does so witha small granularity (10 Gb/s), while maintaining client signalsynchronization. Subrate multiplexing can also be combined withsubchannels to provide even finer granularity as shown in FIG. 42.

Further note that the subchannel implementation based on the cyclicalfilter described above provides the means of de-interleaving channelsspaced at 50 GHz so that an external interleaver is not required in theembodiment shown in FIG. 48.

3. Estimate of OSNR at a Receiver

Optical amplifiers, such as erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs), canbe deployed in a network to compensate for the optical fiber loss. Butoptical amplifiers add amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise to thesignal. This diminishes the optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR). OSNRis a significant factor that affects the performance of an amplifiedoptical network. Therefore, when a network is being deployed andupgraded, it is desirable to have a measurement of the OSNR of a signal.This can be measured with an instrument such as an optical spectrumanalyzer (OSA). However, adding full-spectrum channel monitors at allnetwork points can add significant cost to the network.

OSNR is given by the ratio between the optical signal power to the ASEnoise power in a given noise bandwidth. Typically 0.1 nm is used in theindustry as the noise bandwidth. For example, consider the following2001 IEEE article (“OSNR Monitoring Technique Using Polarization-NullingMethod,” IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 13, p 88 (2001)), whichpresents a method of measuring OSNR of a link by measuring the ASE noisethat is orthogonal to the signal. This method requires additionalequipment to be deployed in the field. We disclose here a lower-costmethod of using existing optical networking equipment to measure theOSNR of the signals. This method uses the signal transmitter andreceiver hardware to measure the OSNR, so it does not require anyadditional equipment.

Measuring OSNR with a high dynamic range requires that the opticalreceiver be able to monitor power with a high dynamic range. This can beaccomplished by placing a resistor in series with the photodiode biascurrent and measuring the voltage across the receiver with a logampconnected to an analog to digital converter (ADC).

First, the receiver and filter in front of the receiver, e.g. thecyclical filter in the case of a subchannel muxponder, are calibrated inthe factory. The receiver can be calibrated by inserting light with aknown power level and measuring the response of the logamp. The filtercan be calibrated with a wideband source (such as ASE from an EDFA) thatis calibrated with a commercial OSA. Then, assuming that the source hasnoise spectral density S(W/Hz), and the noise power measured on thereceiver is P(W), the equivalent noise bandwidth, Bf, of the cyclicalfilter is given by Bf=P/S.

Then the OSNR of a signal can be measured each time the signal isenabled or tuned to a new channel or subchannel. This assumes that thenoise level is independent of the signal level, which is typically thecase in a multichannel DWDM network with gain-controlled andgain-flattened amplifiers. The receiver first records the power beforethe channel is enabled, so that it is measuring the noise power, Pn (W).

After the channel is enabled, the receiver records the signal plus noisepower, given by:

Pt=Pn(W)+Ps(W)

Then the signal to noise ratio is given by

OSNR(dB)=10*log 10(((Pt−Pn)*Bf)/(Pn*Br))

where Br is the reference noise bandwidth.

This method requires that an idle receiver constantly update and storeits noise power in memory and use that power level to calculate the OSNRafter the signal is enabled. It has the drawback that it cannot tracknetwork changes that alter the OSNR after the signal is added. But, itgives an indication when the channel is first enabled if the OSNR is toolow. After the channel is added, the BER can be tracked to indicatenetwork degradations. This method has the advantage of providingsoftware with only the added cost of placing the logamp and ADC afterthe receiver, calibrating the receiver and filter, and recording theOSNR.

In a multichannel DWDM network with gain-controlled and gain-flattenedamplifiers, the OSNR depends on the transmitter launch power to firstorder. Using this method to monitor OSNR when channels are added enablesthe management software to equalize the OSNR of the channels at thereceiver. After channels are enabled, the measured OSNRs provide anestimate as to how much the transmit powers need to be adjusted. Forexample, if one channel has OSNR 1 dB lower than the other channels, itcan be equalized by increasing its launch power by approximately 1 dB.

Although this method can be used by other WDM equipment, the requirementof calibrating the effective bandwidth of the optical filter means thatthe accuracy is diminished unless the filter is located on the samecircuit pack as the receiver, as in the case of the subchannelmuxponders described herein.

4. Measurement of EDFA OSNR Contributions

When networks are being upgraded, it is desirable to have visibility ofthe added channel at all network sites to aid in ensuring goodperformance of the added channel and debugging any issues. Addingfull-spectrum channel monitors at all network points can add significantcost to the network. We disclose here a lower-cost method forout-of-band and out-of-service monitoring of an optical path. When achannel is out-of-service, it can be tuned to the monitor wavelength andthe power levels at each node can be measured and communicated by themanagement software.

FIG. 49 shows an embodiment 4900 of a method to track added channels4910 and monitor out-of-service channels. An unused channel on the edgeof the amplifier gain spectrum is used for this purpose, e.g. at 1528nm. Using a channel on the edge of the gain spectrum will not interferewith the usable channels, but there will still be some gain so that theedge channel propagates through the amplifier chain.

Placement of the monitors depends on the network configuration but it isideally before 4920 and after 4930 each amplifier 4925 as shown in FIG.49. The monitor 4920 before each amplifier 4925 can be used to estimatethe OSNR contribution from each amplifier 4925 [see, eg, U.S. Pat. No.6,040,933] and the difference between the input and output powers can beused to estimate the gain of each amplifier 4925. Note that the gain atthe monitor wavelength may be lower than the gain in the amplifier'ssignal band; yet this difference can be calibrated in the factory foreach amplifier 4925.

Therefore, a signal laser can be tuned to the monitor channel and itspower levels can be verified at each network point. The power levels canbe compared to the existing channels to balance the power of the addedchannel relative to the live channels. After the performance has beenverified at the out-of-band monitor frequency, the channel can be tunedto its designated frequency. Standby channels and protection channelscan also be periodically tuned to the monitor frequency forverification.

The noise of the amplifier 4925 can also be estimated in thisconfiguration by disabling the monitor transmitter. In that case theoutput monitor photodiode (e.g., 4930 b) will measure the noise at themonitor wavelength integrated over the passband of the filter (e.g.,4930 a). The passband of this filter can be calibrated so that the noisemeasured by the photodiode 4930 b can be given relative to a referencenoise bandwidth, such as 0.1 nm.

If the amplifier 4925 has its gain and noise vs. wavelength stored in acalibration table, then the gain and noise at other signal wavelengthscan be determined from the gain at the monitor wavelength.

5. Determining the Net Chromatic Dispersion and Polarization-ModeDispersion of a Fiber Link with Subchannel Delay Times

The performance of an optical link depends on the net dispersion of thefiber and components in the path such as amplifiers and filters. Systemoperators often do not have a record of the precise values of thedispersion of installed fibers. If the net dispersion of the link isoutside of the allowed range of the transmitters being used, thendispersion compensators may have to be installed. If the dispersion of alink is not known precisely, then whether or not dispersion compensationis required may not be known a priori. Deploying a network withincorrect dispersion compensation can cause bit errors that aredifficult to debug.

To be precise, before installing or upgrading an optical network, fieldtechnicians may have to measure the dispersion of each fiber in thenetwork. Measuring the fiber dispersion can be done with commerciallyavailable dispersion testers [eg, Exfo FTB-5700]. Portable dispersionmeasurement equipment, and travel and labor costs to perform thesemeasurements, can be quite expensive.

We therefore propose a solution to this problem in which thetransmission equipment is used to measure the net dispersion of thefiber link. This measurement requires a subchannel muxponder like theone shown in FIG. 15. Measuring the fiber dispersion requires that atleast two of the subchannels be in a maintenance mode because themeasurement will disrupt traffic on the subchannels that are used. Thisis the case when a service is being installed.

The dispersion of a fiber link is given in units of ps/nm. Thisdetermines the delay in ps per nm spacing between two carriers. Thedelay can be measured on a subchannel muxponder line card (employing acircuit such as circuit 5000 shown in FIG. 50) as follows:

(1) Set the subchannels to use the same clock source such as referenceoscillator 5010 on the board normally used as the reference clock formaintenance signals such as ODU-AIS.(2) The same reference signal must be transmitted on the subchannels.For this purpose a user-defined test sequence 5020 can be programmedinto most commercially available SERDES or FEC devices.(3) The SERDES or FEC devices for the two subchannels can besynchronized by simultaneously releasing them from reset.(4) At the receive side the phase difference between the two subchannelscan be measured with a commercially available phase detector 5030 suchas the AD8302 from Analog Devices. This assumes that the voltage V fromthe phase detector 5030 has been calibrated to provide a constant C in(ps/V) to be used in the calculation.(5) From these measurements, the net dispersion of the fiber link (inthe measured phase difference) is given by:

D=V*C/Δλ where Δλ is the wavelength spacing between carriers.

(6) To get high resolution and wide range, adjacent subchannels can beused to measure larger dispersion values, and the outside subchannelscan be used to measure smaller dispersion values. For example, with adevice like the AD8302 that provides an output of roughly 10 mV/ps ofphase difference, if the fiber dispersion is 2000 ps/nm, then the outputof the phase detector 5030 will be 6 V for subchannel spacing of 37.5GHz (or 0.3 nm) and 2 V for a subchannel spacing of 12.5 GHz (or 0.1nm). In this case the 6 V theoretical value may saturate the electronicsso the measurement from the closer spaced channels would be used.

Note that measuring dispersion requires software communication betweenthe transmitter and receiver. We assume that an OSC link or in-bandcommunication channel are available for this purpose. Also note thatthis measurement can only be done out-of-service, e.g. when the serviceis being installed. The measurement process can be as follows:

-   -   Network management sends a command to the link (transmitter and        receiver) to measure dispersion    -   Transmitter uses one subchannel for overhead and signals over        that subchannel to the receiver that it is switching to        dispersion measurement condition    -   Transmitter switches the other 3 subchannels to the common        reference clock and inserts the test sequence on those channels    -   Receiver measures the phase differences between two of the        subchannels    -   The receiver can repeat the measurement for other channels    -   Software calculates the dispersion seen by the signals and raise        an alarm if it is out of range

Note that there may be an unknown delay between channels, for examplefrom delays in the first-in first-out (FIFO) buffers in the serializer.The error from these unknown delays can be eliminated by measuring thephase differences versus the channel spacing. The subchannels to bemeasured can be tuned toward each other, and away from each other, whilemeasuring the phase difference. Several points measured in this fashioncan then be fit with a least-squares fit to get the slope, and hencedispersion. The tuning range depends on the passband of the cyclicalfilter. An example of a phase difference versus channel spacingmeasurement is shown in graph 5100 in FIG. 51. Note that extrapolatingthe difference to zero frequency difference leads to a fixed delaycaused by the electronics. The slope of this curve gives the factor V/AAin the equation above, and the fixed offset does not affect themeasurement.

Alternatively, we can eliminate the unknown transmitter phase differenceby making a measurement with transmitter 1 sending λ1 and transmitter 2sending λ2, and then swapping the lambdas and subtracting the results.Assuming that transmitter 1 has fixed delay Td1 and transmitter 2 hasfixed delay Td2, and the transmitter delay sending λ1 (Tλ1) is the sameas the transmitter delay sending λ2 (Tλ2), then:

Tdiff1=(Tx1+TX1)−(Tx2+TX2)

Tdiff2=(Tx1+TX2)−(Tx2+TX1)

Tdiff1−Tdiff2=2(TX1−TX2)

Then the measured dispersion (or delay between the two wavelengths) isgiven by the following expression that does not contain the unknowntransmitter delays:

TX1−TX2=(Tdiff1−Tdiff2)/2

Furthermore, this method can be used to estimate the polarization-modedispersion (PMD) seen by the signals. PMD is a form of modal dispersionwhere two different polarizations of light in an optical fiber propagateat different speeds due to random imperfections and asymmetries. PMD isa statistical effect, and it depends on alignment of the launched stateof polarization (SOP). When PMD is measured by a dedicated instrumentaccording to standard FOTP-124, the polarization of the measurementlight source is scrambled so that the instrument can average themeasured value over all polarization states.

In one embodiment of the current invention, the relative dispersionbetween two subchannels can be measured as described above. If thesubchannel muxponder in FIG. 15 is used such that the carriers haveorthogonal polarizations, then the delay between two wavelengths can bemeasured for parallel polarizations and orthogonal polarizations.

If subchannels 1 and 3 have the same polarization, and subchannels 2 and4 have the same polarization, and the polarization of subchannels 1 and3 is orthogonal to the polarization of subchannels 2 and 4, then themethod above can be used to measure the following dispersions (as shownin graph 5200 in FIG. 52):

D12=dispersion measured with subchannels 1 and 3 in ps/nm

D24=dispersion measured with subchannels 2 and 4 in ps/nm

The difference in those delays is then equal to the PMD for the SOP heldby the subchannels. This is of more relevance than the PMD averaged overall SOPs, because it will be the PMD that affects the actual signaltransmissions. Statistical averaging over time can be used with thistechnique to get the statistical distribution of PMD.

A distinct advantage of these measurement techniques is that theymeasure the cumulative CD and PMD seen by the signal in a singlemeasurement. Another advantage is that these methods can measure thelink without requiring a technician to break the link to insert externaltest equipment. Other methods may only measure the characteristics ofthe transmission fiber in several steps, and not measure anycontributions from the optical modules used for transmission. A furtheradvantage of these methods is that the results can easily be displayedby the network management software.

All transmitters have an acceptable dispersion window, i.e. range ofdispersion values for which the transmit signal will have an alloweddispersion penalty. If the measured network dispersion or PMD is out ofthis range, then the software can raise an alarm to the network operatorto signal that dispersion compensation is required in the network.

6. Network Upgrades with Minimal Disruption of Live Traffic

The traffic demands on an optical network evolve over time. As thedemand changes, wavelengths and subchannels may have to be added orremoved from service. These changes are typically done during scheduledmaintenance windows. If human, hardware, or software errors occur duringa network change, then some or all of the static traffic may beadversely affected. We therefore disclose a method for software tocontrol a network upgrade to make the traffic changes as non-disruptiveas possible.

When a channel is added, or the transmitter wavelength is tuned to adifferent channel, the output power must be disabled to avoidinterference on the other channels. Then, when the transmitter power isenabled, it should be turned on gradually to avoid any adverse effectson the live channels. While it is being enabled, the BER of the otherchannels should be monitored for increased BER. One embodiment of asequence for tuning a channel is shown in graph 5300 in FIG. 53. Thisrequires software communicating with all nodes to monitor the BER (e.g.at 5310) of all the live channels while turning on the transmit power(e.g. starting at 5320). A similar procedure can be followed when achannel is first enabled.

A procedure for adding a channel with the techniques described above isas follows:

-   -   1 Install the subchannel muxponders and connect the fiber        jumpers (transmitter is disabled until the traffic is assigned)    -   2 Use the bandwidth map to assign the subchannel frequencies    -   3 Assign the protection bandwidth    -   4 Assign the traffic direction    -   5 Assign the services (protocols)    -   6 Tune the transmitter to the EDFA monitor wavelength, turn on        the power to a level that equals the other channels and check        the OSNR contributions of the amplifiers. Record the OSNR at the        receiver and raise an alarm if it is too low.    -   7 Turn off the transmitters and tune the subchannels to the        designated frequencies    -   8 Gradually turn on the transmit power as described below.    -   9 Establish an overhead channel between the two end points with        the line side at a predetermined rate. This is easier to do with        OTN framing, where the overhead channel is independent of the        protocol being used. It is also easier if the same rate is used        for the different protocols. Use the overhead channel to        exchange path trace information (raise an alarm if there is a        path trace mismatch), IP and subchannel addresses.    -   10 Measure the dispersion (CD and PMD) seen by the subchannels        as described above, and raise an alarm if the dispersion is out        of spec    -   11 Enable the traffic and monitor the BER, raise an alarm if it        is too high    -   12 Traffic is established, start the traffic monitors and update        the performance status

7. Diagnostic Tool to Capture all Digital Data and Compare to KnownValues

Electronic equipment, such as the optical equipment described herein,can have several digital devices with registers containing configurationand status data. These registers may be implemented in custom-designedor off-the-shelf Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs), and/or complex programmable logicdevices (PLDs). Registers may hold provisioning information (such as thebit rate), loopback condition, or data protocol, and contain alarmconditions and performance monitoring data. Typically, real-timeoperating system (RTOS) software configures the registers depending oninstructions from the network operator, and reads the registers todiscern status.

With the development of complex ASICs and FPGAS, there may hundreds orthousands of registers on a line card. The RTOS software may providecommands to users to read certain registers, but typically it isdifficult to get full visibility of all the digital data on a line cardand to debug issues on the line card.

We propose here a diagnostic tool that reads all ASIC, FPGA, and CPLDregisters on a line card, compares the read values to expected valuesand reports the differences to a user for debugging, and/or uses thedifferences to provide debugging advice. The interface is a spreadsheet,created for example with Microsoft Excel, that has been programmed tocontain a list of all the devices on a line card with one spreadsheettab per device.

FIG. 54 shows an example of such a spreadsheet 5400. The first column5410 lists the register numbers of a device, the second column 5420lists the address, the third column 5430 lists a name for the register,the fourth column 5440 lists the type of register (RW=read/write), thefifth column 5450 lists the expected value of the data read from eachregister, the sixth column 5460 reads the actual value, the seventhcolumn 5470 lists the difference between the expected and actualcolumns, and the eighth column 5480 gives a description of eachregister.

The spreadsheet 5400 is first generated by a person that transposes thefunctional specification for each device to the spreadsheet. Reading thedata from the line card requires that the user have a communicationslink from their laptop to the line card. This can be done with a serialdebug port or standard protocol such as telnet. The expected values canbe generated from the functional specification, or by reading a devicein a known good state and copying the read values from the “Actual”column to the “Expected” column. Differences between read and expectedvalues can be selectively highlighted, as shown in element 5490. Severalstandard configurations can be stored in the spreadsheet so that theuser can compare values depending on the expected card configuration.The spreadsheet has an “Update” button 5495 that triggers a macro toread the registers on the line card (user can select which devices areupdated), copy the data to the appropriate “Actual” column in thespreadsheet, and highlight any differences between the actual andexpected values. The spreadsheet can also be programmed to hide datawhen the actual and expected values are equal.

This diagnostic spreadsheet 5400 therefore provides a network operator,field support engineer, or design engineer with a quick method todetermine if a line card is correctly configured, or if there are anycurrent alarms or hardware faults.

8. Network Upgrades with Minimal Software Upgrades to Legacy Equipment

As telecommunications products evolve, there can be a need to add newproducts that reuse the shelf, backplane and/or management card of alegacy product. Furthermore, the new product release may have softwarethat is not necessarily backwards compatible to the legacy product. Thismay be the case because the new product is enhanced with a new softwarearchitecture, and making the new software backwards compatible mayrequire a lot of time and investment in engineering. To get a newproduct to market sooner, the new product may be deployed alongside thelegacy product in two separate shelves 5510 and 5520 as shown in FIG.55. This implementation 5500 has the disadvantage that it requires extrashelf space for the new product even though there may be empty slots inthe chassis of the legacy product.

We therefore disclose a method of combining the new product and legacyproduct in a single shelf 5610 as shown in implementation 5600 in FIG.56. Rather than using the two ethernet busses to provide redundantmanagement, one ethernet bus 5620 is used by MGT-1 5625 to manage thelegacy cards 5627 and the second ethernet bus 5630 is used by MGT-2 5635to manage the new cards 5637. Each MGT has a separate IP address and isconnected separately to the EMS server 5650 via an IP network. In thisembodiment 5600, the new line cards 5637 use the second ethernet planeand MGT software (1) disables the redundancy feature, (2) disableshandshaking between MGT cards, and (3) disables shared control lines onMGT-2 5635.

The EMS 5650 managing shelf 5610 will display it as two separate shelves(with separate IP addresses). Over time, as the software in the legacyequipment is upgraded, the legacy line cards 5627 can be upgradedremotely with software downloads to be managed by MGT-2 5635. Eventuallyall the legacy cards 5627 will be upgraded so that all cards are managedby the new software on MGT-2 5635, and MGT-1 5625 is not being used. Atthat point the software on MGT-1 5625 can be upgraded with redundancyenabled so that the chassis is managed with MGT-2 5635 and MGT-1 5635 ison standby to provide redundant management.

C. Subchannel Routing, Switching, Concatenation and Protection

Having described the core hardware elements of a subchannel-basedarchitecture, as well as various techniques (which can be applied to ITUchannel-based, as well as subchannel-based systems) for facilitatingnetwork visibility generally and in the context of network upgrades(where legacy equipment is reused whenever feasible), we now turn ourattention to various methods for implementing, on a subchannel-basedarchitecture, the routing, switching, concatenation and protection ofclient circuits across nodes of an optical WDM network. It should benoted that the extent to which these methods are implemented in softwareand/or general-purpose or dedicated hardware is generally a matter ofdesign choice.

1. OSC Options and Routing Protocols

WDM equipment often requires that the EMS have a management connectionto all remote nodes for functions such as provisioning equipment,reporting faults, downloading software upgrades, and retrieving andreporting performance metrics. The node management card (MGT) also needsa management connection to remote nodes for end-to-end provisioning,controlling protection switching, and reporting remote performance andfaults. For these functions, current WDM equipment deploys an opticalservice channel (OSC) that is outside of the ITU-T G.692 spectralwindow, i.e. at 1510 nm or 1620 nm.

We disclose here an alternative implementation that enables remotemanagement information to be transmitted over (1) a separate unamplifiedwavelength 5710 such as 1510 nm or 1620 nm, (2) a separate amplifiedwavelength 5720, (3) the overhead channel 5730 of a subchannel 5735, or(4) an unused portion of the payload (not shown). In one embodiment, themanagement software uses OSPF routing to select the overhead channelwith the highest bandwidth. Other routing protocols such as RIP may alsobe used. A general embodiment 5700 of this alternative routing ofmanagement traffic is shown in FIG. 57, and the advantages andlimitations of various different approaches are illustrated in Table 1below.

The alternative path selected for any given implementation is a designchoice made after balancing the various advantages and limitations ofeach approach, such as those shown in Table 1. As will become apparentbelow, use of any of the alternative paths, as opposed to a dedicatedOSC, enhances remote management functionality by enabling greaternetwork visibility of information at a lower level of granularity, whichin turn facilitates the detection and repair of problems, as well as themodification and upgrading of network functionality.

TABLE 1 Remote Management Path Advantages Limitations OSC - nonamplified Highest bandwidth Higher cost to add wavelength Not affectedby and drop a special amplifier failure wavelength Not enough reach forextended links OSC- amplified Highest bandwidth Affected by wavelengthGood for extended amplifier failure links Out-of band overhead No extracost Lower bandwidth (GCC) Affected by amplifier and line card failuresUnused VLAN or VCG on No extra cost Affected by muxponder Higherbandwidth amplifier and line than GCC card failures Needs to be re-routed when port is assigned to traffic

Similar to the standard OSPF protocol, management traffic is routedbetween nodes based on a metric that is inversely proportional to thebandwidth of each path. This requires each independent link to firstestablish end-to-end connectivity by handshaking with the remote end.After the connection is established, each link must publish itsavailability, end points, and bandwidth measure. OSPF routing tables onthe MGT then select a route between each node. If required, loadbalancing can also be implemented on the management channels. Ingeneral, the routing algorithm and updates follow a standard OSPFimplementation.

2. Security Application with Subchannel Hopping

In addition to remote management applications, subchannels alsofacilitate secure communications that rely upon existing opticalinfrastructure, such as the subchannel muxponder shown in FIG. 17. Theembodiment shown in FIG. 17 can be used to provide secure communicationsby constantly redistributing the traffic among the carriers. Thisrequires handshaking between the terminals to synchronize the mappingand remapping between the client traffic and the subchannels. Thechannel overhead can be used to signal between the subchanneltransmitters and receivers. One embodiment of an algorithm for suchsubchannel distribution includes the following steps:

-   -   1. Assign traffic to the carriers    -   2. Use channel overhead to signal the carrier distribution to        the receiver    -   3. Receiver sends acknowledgement    -   4. Send the traffic and start reconfiguration timer    -   5. After timer expires, transmitter generates new random carrier        distribution and signals that distribution to the receiver    -   6. Transmitter buffers starts buffering the traffic or hold off        with Pause signals    -   7. When receiver sends acknowledgement for the new channel        acknowledgement, start transmitting with new carrier        distribution

3. Optical Routing and Switching at the Subchannel Layer

Having described details of the design and control of subchannelmuxponders, we now disclose novel applications of subchannel muxpondersfor optical routing and switching across network nodes. In oneembodiment, data mapped onto the subchannels can be routed to any endterminal by selectively and independently tuning the wavelength of eachsubchannel, i.e. software tuning a laser's frequency to select asubchannel.

As noted above, this is distinguished from prior implementations usingmultiple lasers that were constrained to be (a) fixed within the sameITU window, and (b) transmitted to the same receive node. This currentembodiment uses ITU-T G.692 compliant add/drop multiplexers to selectWDM channels incident on a network element to be dropped at that node orto pass through to the next node.

To appreciate the detailed implementation of the applications describedherein, it is helpful to review some general background informationregarding the routing functions and software used to manage thesesubchannel routing and switching applications. Managing a large numberof ITU channels, subchannels, and client services requires multi-layerrouting software that uses subchannel mapping to direct services betweenendpoints.

In this regard, FIG. 58 shows the addition of a new management sublayer,the Optical Subchannel Layer 5810, between existing FEC Encode/Decodeand Wavelength Assignment layers. This layer 5810 manages thesubchannels within each ITU channel.

To maintain the degree of flexibility necessary to manage the vast arrayof options afforded by the use of subchannels, the network managementsystem responsible for maintaining the assignments of client services tosubchannels throughout an optical WDM network employs (in oneembodiment) the following set of rules:

-   -   Multiplexing lower-rate services into a subchannel is        constrained by hardware capabilities and bandwidth per        subchannel    -   Inverse multiplexing of higher-rate services to subchannels        should be done on the same ITU channel (although this network        design does not preclude a distribution over different ITU        channels, it is impractical since it requires dedicated hardware        at the WDM receive side to recombine the subchannels)    -   Routing tables must provide overall network visibility    -   The total number of lower-rate services per subchannel is fixed        by the deployed hardware, but software should be flexible to        allow future upgrades    -   The total number of subchannels per ITU channel is fixed by the        deployed hardware, but software should be flexible to allow        future upgrades, e.g. from 4 to 10 subchannels    -   East-west ambiguity must be resolved, software must control and        track the traffic to fiber mapping    -   Optional user-defined labels should be supported for users to        refer to services and nodes with meaningful labels    -   User is given choices of available paths    -   Routing is distance and OSNR aware so that a path with better        optical performance is preferred    -   Protection traffic is placed on the side of the ring with worse        optical performance    -   Reuse of bandwidth at all layers in a network is supported.    -   The number of nodes connected to a given node is as low as 1 for        point-to-point applications, and as high as N−1, for mesh        applications with an N-port WSS    -   Interworking between subchannel muxponders and legacy ITU        channel equipment is supported

We now describe various methods for managing optical bandwidth inaccordance with the above requirements. In the examples below, wedescribe the routing tables for a ring network, but the tables do notlimit the number of nodes that can be connected to each node.

When a new service or node is being added to the network,software-assisted routing either selects the lowest-cost availablesubchannel(s) or, if no subchannels are available, requests the networkoperator to add subchannel muxponders as required. Because of theflexibility of this design, the traffic assignments to subchannels andassignment of subchannels to ITU G.692 channels is not known a priori.These assignments depend on the network's real-time traffic demand andevolution of the network over time.

An example of a simple optical network is shown in FIG. 59. At each nodethe routing table numbers the node ports from P1 to PN. A ring node has8 ports (East add, East drop, West add, West drop, East line in, Eastline out, West line in, and West line out). Although we give exampleshere of ring nodes of degree 2 (where a node is connected to 2 othernodes), this methodology can easily be extended to higher degree nodesby adding more ports to the routing description. Also note that therouting description and tables are independent of the particularhardware used for adding and dropping channels. In FIG. 59 we showgeneric nodes that selectively add, drop, and passthrough traffic fromand to the line fibers without restrictions on the hardware.

In FIG. 59 each node has 8 ports that can selectively direct the trafficin each ITU channel as follows:

P1) Adds channels from the node to the output port P7

P2) Adds channels from the node to the output port P8

P3) Line Input port that can drop channels to P5 or passthrough channelsto P8

P4) Line Input port that can drop channels to P6 or passthrough channelsto P7

P5) Drop port that can drop channels from P3

P6) Drop port that can drop channels from P4

P7) Line output port

P8) Line output port

In one embodiment, bandwidth is managed with routing tables exchangedbetween network nodes. A simple routing table that describes thepossible connections is shown in FIG. 60. A “1” in the table betweeninput ports and output ports indicates that a connection between thoseports is possible with a single hop, and a “0” indicates that aconnection between those ports is not possible.

After a node is commissioned and connected via the line fibers to asecond node, the OSC connection between the nodes is used to exchangethe node connections. The management cards at each node then exchangethe routing information to build up a route connection table as shown inFIG. 61.

The first table 6110 in FIG. 61 only contains the intra-node connectionsfor the 3 nodes shown in FIG. 59. In the second table 6120, we assumethat the connection of Node 1, Port 8 is made to Node 2, Port 3. Thetable 6120 then gets filled in with new values which indicate that,since channels from Node 1 Ports 2 and 3 can be connected to Node 1,Port 8, they can also be connected to the same outputs as Node 2, Port3. These connections are given the value of “2” in the table since theyinvolve 2 hops. The next version of the routing table 6130 shows theadditions for the connection of Node 1, Port 7 to Node 3, Port 4. Theother cases shown in FIG. 61 demonstrate how the routing table is filledout. The net results, in table 6140 in the lower right-hand corner ofFIG. 61, has all the connections filled out.

The fiber connections shown in this 2-dimensional table can also belisted in a linear representation as shown in FIG. 62, has tables 6200that list the action of each port as follows:

-   -   A) To indicate an add port    -   D) To indicate a drop port    -   PI) To indicate a passthrough input port (line input)    -   PO) To indicate a passthrough output port (line output)

Each table proceeds from top to bottom with the propagation of lightaround the ring. For example the left-hand table 6210 of FIG. 62represents the inner fiber of FIG. 59. Proceeding from the first line ofthe table 6210, channels input to Port 4 of node 1 can be dropped toport 6 of node 1, and channels added at Port 1 of Node 1 can be added tothe passthrough channels. These channels are then passed to the outputPort 7 that is connected to the Node 5 Port 4 input port. The sequencethen repeats for each node around the ring. The table 6220 on theright-hand side of FIG. 62 shows the progression for the outer fiber inFIG. 59. Note that these tables “wrap around”, i.e. the bottom port ofeach table is connected to the top port. For example, in the left-handtable 6210 Node 2, Port 7 at the bottom is connected to Node 1, Port 4at the top.

This 2-dimensional routing table 6200 contains the possible connectionsonly for each channel, or subchannel, but does not contain theadditional dimension required to specify the actual configuration ofeach subchannel. To demonstrate that function, consider the example of aring network with subchannel routing.

Each ITU channel is divided into N subchannels (N>=2); in our exampleswe assume that N=4. In a network with a plurality of nodes, each nodecan demultiplex at least one ITU channel. The control plane can map aplurality of client signals to tunable lasers at each node, and canroute any client signal to any other node by tuning the transmitterlaser of that signal to a subchannel within the ITU channel associatedwith the destination node.

FIG. 63 illustrates the concept with a simple network 6300 where a pairof single ITU-T G.692 channel filters are used at each node to drop theITU channel indicated. As noted above, the ITU filter function can berealized by a variety of technologies, such as fixed thin-film filtersor a ROADM. Since the carriers are tunable, the simplest means to addthe signals to the ring is to use a wavelength-independent coupler(CPLR) as shown.

In this example, the traffic map has two 10 Gb/s connections betweenevery node in a protected full-mesh configuration. The mapping ofsubchannels is given in the legend in the middle of the diagram. Notethat each node has an unassigned subchannel available to carry moretraffic. Also note that subchannels are reused at different ITUchannels, e.g. SC-2 is used to connect Node 200 to Node 220, as well asNode 210 to Node 230.

FIG. 64 shows the simplified connection diagram 6400 for the 4-node ringexample with the same numbering as the 3-node example in FIG. 59. Aftera subchannel is added at a node and connected to one direction, the OSCconnection communicates the channel add to all the downstream nodes.Each node then classifies that subchannel as being passthrough, ordropped if a channel filter is used to drop that subchannel. When thesubchannel is dropped and connected to a subchannel receiver, theconnection between transmitter and receiver is updated in the routingtable.

In FIG. 65 and FIG. 66, we show two different means of displaying theconnection map for the 4-node ring example shown in FIG. 64.

FIG. 65 shows a connection map 6500 displaying the connection betweenthe end points of the subchannel muxponders at each node and FIG. 66lists the state of each subchannel at each point in the network.

FIG. 65 lists the network hierarchy from nodes (first row and firstcolumn) to cards (second row and second column) to channels (third rowand third column) to client ports (fourth row and fourth column). Notethat an ITU channel is assigned to each card, which is the ITU channelbeing received by that card. A circuit is displayed in the table as ahighlighted square linking two client ports. To illustrate an exampleconnection, the table 6500 has highlighted the connection between ClientPort 3 on Card 2 at Node 1 (transmitting at Subchannel 3 of Channel 230)and Client Port 3 of Card 8 at Node 4 (transmitting at Subchannel 3 ofChannel 200). The rest of the connections in the network of FIG. 63 havebeen entered in table 6500 of FIG. 65 as dark rectangles.

Available bandwidth in FIG. 65 is indicated by empty rows and columns.For example, the row associated with Node 1, Card 1, and Port 4 does nothave a rectangle linking that port to a circuit, so that port isavailable for network upgrades.

FIG. 66 lists the state of each subchannel at each connection point forthe network of FIG. 64. The first three columns of FIG. 66 list thefiber connections according to the convention illustrated in FIG. 62.There is one column in this table 6600 for each subchannel. The state ofa subchannel is listed with the following nomenclature:

-   -   UEQ (Unequipped)—the subchannel is not present    -   IS-A (In Service Add)—the subchannel is being added at that port    -   IS-P (In Service Passthrough)—the subchannel is present and        being passed through to the next port    -   IS-D (In Service Drop)—the subchannel is being dropped at that        port    -   UAS-D (Unassigned Drop)—the subchannel is not present, but there        is a filter present that would drop that subchannel

Note that table 6600 is divided into two halves. The top half 6610 isfor the counterclockwise fiber connection in FIG. 63 and the bottom half6620 is for the clockwise fiber connection in FIG. 63. When the firstnode in a network is commissioned, a routing table is populated with allavailable bandwidth listed as unequipped (UEQ). The available bandwidthis determined by the management software. For the purpose of simplicityin this example, we assume that it starts with 4 ITU channels and 4subchannels per ITU channel. Furthermore, we assume that east and westdrop filters are deployed at the first site that drops a subset of ITUchannels, which then constricts a subset of the UEQ channels to bedropped at that node.

To illustrate how this table 6600 works, consider the example of theconnection, highlighted in FIG. 65, between Client Port 3 on Card 2 atNode 1 (transmitting at Subchannel 3 of Channel 230) and Client Port 3of Card 8 at Node 4 (transmitting at Subchannel 3 of Channel 200). Thisconnection is listed in the second to last column of FIG. 66 forSubchannel 3 of Channel 230. “IS-A” is listed in the third row of thatcolumn to indicate the start of the connection at Port 1 of Node 1. Thesubchannel passes through to Port 7 of Node 1, across the line fiber toPort 4 of Node 4, and is then dropped at Port 6 of Node 4. In thereverse direction (clockwise fiber), the Subchannel is added at Port 4of Node 2 in the third column, second-to-last row. It then passes toPort 8 of Node 4, across the line fiber to Port 3 of Node 1, and is thendropped at Port 5 of Node 1. Note that this connection wraps around tothe top of the second half 6620 of the table 6600.

This circuit has a corresponding protected connection that ishighlighted in FIG. 67. This connection uses the same subchannel, but itpropagates around the other side of the ring, passing through Nodes 2and 3 between the Node 1 and Node 3 terminals.

FIG. 66 indicates the assignment and use of subchannels at any point ina fiber connection. For example, the subchannels present at the outputof Port 7 from Node 1 is listed in the fourth row, where the assignmentsare in bold characters. That row indicates that Subchannel 1 of Channel210, Subchannels 2 and 3 of Channel 220, and Subchannels 2, 3 and 4 ofChannel 230 are In Service, and the other subchannels are unequipped.

To determine if there is a subchannel available for a new circuit,consider the request for a new circuit between Node 1 (added at Port 2)and Node 2 (dropped at Port 5). The subchannels available for such acircuit are highlighted in FIG. 68. The table 6800 lists 9 subchannelsas being unused on that link. However, it is preferable to use asubchannel within an ITU channel that is already dropped at that node.Subchannel 4 of Channel 210 is available at Node 2, as indicated by the“UAS-D” entry in table 6800.

As shown in these examples, the routing table indicates to the networkoperator which subchannels and channels are in use at each location ofthe network. With the fully-tunable subchannel lasers, any unassignedlaser can then be mapped to any unused subchannel to provide therequested circuit. When a new circuit is requested, the table canindicate which subchannels are available, and which have the lowest costof deployment. The routing information can also be passed to higherlayers of software that monitor and control the subchannels.

The software can therefore provide to the network operator capacitylists and/or maps of in-service capacity, present but not deployedcapacity, and unused capacity. The tables can also have options to groupsubchannels by those that are (1) deployed and in service (2) installed,but not in service, and (3) available to be deployed.

This architecture also supports sub-rate multiplexing within asubchannel. Various mappings 6900 to subchannels are shown in FIG. 69.Subchannel mapping supports optical concatenation, e.g., four 10 Gb/ssubchannels can be concatenated to carry a 40 Gb/s signal.

The same routing tables can be used to support an overlay of lower-layerprotocol routing with subchannel optical routing.

For example, suppose the subchannel muxponder supports standard 10Gigabit Ethernet data on the client side, and the 10 Gigabit Ethernetdata comes from a 10×1 Gigabit Ethernet multiplexer.

An example of the same routing approach can be applied to the overlay7000 shown in FIG. 70, which shows the overlay of 10×1 GE services onone of the available subchannels of the 4-node network shown in FIG. 63.The subrate muxponder in this case has 10 client SFP ports and anethernet switch that maps the client ports to VLANs on the line side.The traffic in the VLANs is mapped to one of the available 10 Gb/ssubchannels transmitted between the three nodes.

In FIG. 70, the following services are provisioned:

-   -   3 circuits from Node 1 to Node 2 over VLANS 1-3    -   4 circuits from Node 1 to Node 3 over VLANS 4-7    -   3 circuits from Node 2 to Node 1 over VLANs 8-10    -   6 circuits from Node 3 to Node 1 over VLANS 1-6

FIG. 71 shows the VLAN routing map 7100 for the subrate overlaysdisplayed in FIG. 70. Similar to the tables above, the followingnotation is used:

-   -   IS-A (In Service Add)—the VLAN is being added at that port    -   IS-D (In Service Drop)—the VLAN is being dropped at that port    -   IS-DP (In Service Drop-Passthrough)—the VLAN is being dropped to        the adjacent card to form a passthrough connection to the next        node    -   IS-DP (In Service Add-Passthrough)—the VLAN is being added from        the adjacent card to form a passthrough connection to the next        node

The last column 7110 of FIG. 71 lists a possible mapping of the sublayerservice to the subchannels in the network shown in FIG. 63.

This architecture and routing method provides a means of interconnectingthe rings and spurs shown in FIG. 10. For inter-ring traffic, a subsetof the total number of ITU channels can be assigned to the inter-ringtraffic and remaining ITU channels can be assigned to the intra-ringtraffic. Fixed or reconfigurable filters can then be used to direct theinter-ring traffic and intra-ring traffic. The routing tables can beextended to cases where there are spur nodes, and interconnected rings.

The subchannel routing software provides multilayer routing where thefirst layer manages client services, the second layer managessubchannels, the third layer manages ITU channels, and the fourth layermanages fiber connections. Additional tables can indicate the status ofthese services and connections. The tables also provide route discoveryfor subchannels and services.

FIG. 72 shows an example of a status table 7200 that can be displayed bythe network management software to the network operator. The techniquesdescribed above can be used to determine the optical data listed. Thefirst table 7210 in FIG. 72 lists status of the subchannels transmittedfrom Node 1 in the example of FIG. 63. The columns list, in order fromleft to right, the local IP address of each line card, the transmittedsubchannel, the service on each subchannel, a unique label used toidentify the service, the destination node, the transmit port connectingthe subchannel to the line fiber, identification of any subchannel thatis protecting the traffic, the remote received power, OSNR, dispersion,PMD, and bit error rate. Similar entries are provided in the bottomtable 7220 for the received subchannels.

In these tables, visual cues can be used to alert the operator aboutnetwork problems. For examples, metrics that are failing a requirementcan be colored red, and metrics that are close to failing can be coloredyellow. Moreover, in another embodiment, such cues could triggerautomated actions including notifications of a problem or predefinedcorrective measures such as provisioning or de-provisioning a circuit.

4. Directionless Subchannel Muxponder

There is a need in WDM optical networking for directionless transpondersand muxponders. In this context, “directionless” means that the circuitprovided by the transponder or muxponder can be remotely switched bysoftware to be on either side of a ring, i.e. the transmitter can switchbetween transmitting in the clockwise direction or counter-clockwisedirection; and the receiver can select a circuit from the clockwisedirection or counter-clockwise direction.

FIG. 73 shows an example of a directionless subchannel muxponderimplementation 7300. The switching is accomplished by placing a red/bluefilter 7310 at the transmitter output and a red/blue filter 7320 at thereceiver input. The red/blue filter splits the C-band ITU channelbandwidth into two halves, “red” channels are ITU channels 200-390 and“blue” channels are ITU channels 400-600. Note that this division isarbitrary and dependent on the quality of the red/blue filter. Currentfilters may not have adequate isolation at the splitting frequency, sothat 1 or more channels at the middle, e.g. channels 390-410, may beunusable.

With the red/blue filters inserted as shown in FIG. 73, a subchannelmuxponder can set a subchannel transmitter to a blue frequency totransmit to one direction or to a red frequency to transmit to the otherdirection. Similarly, red or blue channels can be selected from eitherdirection to be received.

The configuration 7400 of FIG. 74 enables a subchannel muxponder to bedeployed as a switchable subchannel crossponder. A “crossponder” in thiscontext is a muxponder that can transmit and receive on two line ports.One advantage of a subchannel crossponder is that it can redirecttraffic away from a span for node insertion as shown in FIG. 74. Forexample, traffic can transmit and receive on both fiber spans 7410 or beredirected to only one of the spans 7420, or a new node can be inserted,effectively replacing one of the fiber spans 7430. A subchannelcrossponder can also be used to bridge traffic on two diverse spans forprotection switching applications as described below. Subchannels can beselectively dropped or added using the crossconnect switch 4115 shown inFIG. 41.

5. Subchannel Optical Protection

The subchannel network design offers a flexible means of protectingservices. Traffic that propagates in one direction in a subchannel canbe protected by the same or a different subchannel propagating aroundthe ring in the opposite direction. This architecture also supportsshared optical protection. Regardless of the protection architecturedeployed, a protected circuit requires two basic functions at theterminals—the bridge function and switch function. The signal to beprotected has to be bridged onto two redundant paths at the transmitend, and one of the two signals from the redundant paths must beswitched at the receive end to be selected as the working circuit.

In the example shown in FIG. 63, there are two duplex connectionsbetween every node—one in the clockwise direction, and one in thecounter-clockwise direction. The two subchannels can be used forindependent services or for protecting against fiber cuts.

An example of a simplified dedicated protection implementation 7500 isshown in FIG. 75 where the traffic between two nodes, Node 1 and Node 2,is protected with a working fiber pair 7510 and a protection fiber pair7520. There are two protected circuits, one between Clients 1 (C1) and 3(C3), and one between Clients 2 (C2) and 4 (C4). At the transmitter, thetraffic from Clients 1 and 3 is bridged onto I-200, SC-1 and I-400,SC-3; and the traffic from Clients 2 and 4 is bridged onto I-200, SC-2and I-400, SC-4. This traffic is transmitted onto both working fiberswith the I-200/I-400 channel filters.

At each receiver, a 1×2 switch selects traffic from one of thedesignated subchannels. For example, the switch 7530 at Node 1 forClient 1 selects the I-200, SC-1 received signal in normal mode, andselects the I-400, SC-3 received signal when the working fiber pair iscut. The selection of subchannel can be done with the integratedcrossconnect switch shown in FIG. 17, or with the use of externaloptical or electrical switches.

Although the crossconnect shown in FIG. 17 provides more connectivity,it also adds to the cost of the terminal equipment. If the transceivermodule does not have a crossconnect, there are other means forperforming the bridge and switch. For example, equipment 7600 in FIG. 76includes two optical splitters on the client side. The top splitter 7610is used to bridge the client data 7605 onto the first and thirdsubchannels. At the receive side, the signals from the first and thirdsubchannels are connected to a second optical splitter 7620. Thesoftware on the transport module selects which subchannel signal is sentback to the client 7605 by enabling one of the client transmit lasers.This function could also be accomplished with a 1×2 optical switch 7630instead of the second optical splitter 7620. The first option may bepreferred because (1) cost of an optical splitter is lower than that ofan optical switch and (2) the software controlling the switch isself-contained on the transport module—the second option requiresexternal software communication between the transport module and theswitch, which makes the switch slower and less reliable.

Another embodiment for performing the bridge and switch is shown in FIG.77. In this embodiment 7700, the bridge function is done with an opticalloopback 7710 on the client side between CL-1 and CL-3.

The dedicated protection architecture shown in FIG. 75 can be deployedin much larger applications with many more nodes and many moresubchannel circuits. In these cases it may be desirable to use sharedprotection to free up more subchannels for working traffic.

FIG. 78 shows an embodiment of a subchannel crossponder 7800 that can beused to support dedicated or shared protection. On the transmit side,the first two carriers 7810 a and 7810 b are transmitted to one linefiber 7825 and the other two carriers 7810 c and 7810 d are transmittedto the second line fiber 7835. The receive side has a coupler 7840 toreceive subchannels from both line fibers 7825 and 7835. The integratedcrossconnect switch 7850 can be used for dedicated protection (1) at thetransmit side to bridge client traffic onto two subchannels, and (2) atthe receive side to select traffic from one direction. The switch 7850can also be used for a shared protection application to regenerate theprotection subchannel. These cases are discussed below.

FIG. 79 shows an application 7900 that uses a subchannel crossponder attwo distinct nodes connected by two fiber pairs. The top fiber pair 7910is designated as the working pair and the bottom pair 7920 is designatedas the protection pair. Subchannels SC1 and SC2 are transmitted in theclockwise direction and SC3 and SC4 are transmitted in thecounter-clockwise direction. There are two working circuits on the topworking fiber, (1) SC1 transmitting from Node 1 to Node 2 with SC4transmitting from Node 2 to Node 1; and (2) SC2 transmitting from Node 1to Node 2 with SC3 transmitting from Node 2 to Node 1.

The integrated crossconnects 7930 a and 7930 b perform the bridge andswitch functions for Nodes 1 and 2, respectively. Traffic on the firstclient port at Node 1 is bridged to SC1 (transmitted over the workingfiber) and SC3 (transmitted over the protection fiber). At the receiveside the switch function in the crossconnect 7930 a selects the trafficfrom SC1 or SC3 to be transmitted back to the first client port at Node2. This design of the crossponder therefore provides dedicatedprotection of two working circuits with Subchannel 3 protecting thetraffic in Subchannel 1 and Subchannel 4 protecting the traffic inSubchannel 2.

FIG. 80 shows an embodiment 8000 where the subchannel crossponder isused in a shared protection application. In this example, there is asingle working circuit between each pair of neighboring nodes (N1 to N2,N1 to N3 and N2 to N3). The subchannels assigned for the workingcircuits are SC1 for the clockwise direction and SC3 for thecounter-clockwise direction. SC4 is allocated as a shared protectionsubchannel for failures in SC1; and SC2 is allocated as a sharedprotection subchannel for failures in SC3. Therefore at each node whereclient traffic is being added, client traffic that is mapped to SC1 isalso bridged to SC4, and client traffic that is mapped to SC3 is alsobridged to SC2. At the drop side, the switch function in thecrossconnect normally selects SC1 and SC3.

FIG. 81 shows how the network shown in FIG. 80 is protected by a fibercut 8130. In this embodiment 8100, the fiber pair 8110 between Nodes 1and 2 has been cut. After the control software determines that the fiberpair 8110 between Node 1 and Node 2 has been cut, e.g. by Loss of Signalalarms, it sends messages over the OSC (optical service channel) to eachnode in the ring. The nodes adjacent to the cut are instructed to switchto protection so that the first client circuit at Node 1 switches fromselecting the traffic from SC3 to selecting the traffic from SC2 on theother side of the ring, and the first client circuit at Node 2 switchesfrom selecting the traffic from SC1 to selecting the traffic from SC4 onthe other side of the ring.

At the intermediate nodes (Node 3 in this example), the protectionsubchannels are switched to passthrough mode. In this example that meansthat SC4 is regenerated from Node 1, passing through Node 3, to Node 2,and SC2 is regenerated from Node 2, passing through Node 3, to Node 1.

The shared protection switching with subchannels requires real-timemessaging software between the nodes over an overhead channel tocoordinate the protection switching. It should be noted that, becauseone embodiment of the subchannel crossponder supports differentprotocols on each port, the protocol of the protection subchannel mayhave to be switched as well during the protection switch.

Also note that the protection bandwidth (SC2 and SC4 in this example) isnormally unused so that it is available for low-priority traffic. Forthis example, a low-priority circuit could be established between thesecond client port at Node 1 and the second client port at Node 2transmitting on SC2 from Node 1 to Node 2, and transmitting on SC4 fromNode 2 to Node 1. Similar circuits could be established between Node 1and Node 3, and between Node 3 and Node 2. Those circuits would bedropped in the event of a protection switch of high-priority traffic,since the protection switch then uses the protection bandwidth tomaintain the high-priority circuit.

This type of shared protection falls under the category of OSPR (OpticalShared Protection Ring), that use a division between working andprotection bandwidth similar to that used by a SONET Bidirectional LineSwitched Ring (BLSR) defined in the Telcordia Standard GR-1230-CORE.[See also “Transparent Optical Protection Ring Architectures andApplications”, by M. J. Li et al, IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology,Vol. 23, No. 10, p. 3388 (2005).]

In this protection architecture, when a failure occurs that causes aloss of signal on a span between two OADM nodes, a protection switch isinitiated by the control software. Signaling messages from the nodes oneither side of the failure are transmitted around the ring on the sideaway from the point of failure. Upon receiving the request to effect aprotection switch, all the intermediate nodes discard the extra traffic,if used, to set up a protection link for the failed traffic.

It should be noted that the designs described above represent not only anovel device—i.e., the first subchannel crossponder—but a novelapplication of this device—i.e., the first application of a subchannelcrossponder in a shared protection ring. This type of shared protectioncan also be applied to subrate overlay channels, such as the examplesshown in FIG. 70.

Also note that the crossconnect switch 1750 in the subchannel muxponder1700 (shown in FIG. 17) or crossponder 7800 (shown in FIG. 78) can beused to provide 1:N shared protection against laser failures. Forexample, 3 client services can be mapped to the first 3 subchannels, andif any of the hardware used by one of the first 3 subchannels fails, theaffected traffic can be bridged and switched to the fourth subchannel.

6. Distributed WDM Switching Network

By mapping client data to N subchannels on M ITU channels with tunablelasers, this architecture can support ring and mesh topologies with upto up N×M strict-sense nonblocking connections with low-cost fixedoptical filters. In the examples described above, M=4 for 4 subchannelsat 10 Gb/s, while N=on the order of 40 for C-band ITU channels spaced at100 GHz, and N=on the order of 80 for C-band ITU channels spaced at 50GHz, and N=on the order of 160 for C and L band channels spaced at 50GHz. With 4 subchannels per ITU channel, this embodiment can thereforesupport a 640×640 full logical mesh of 10 Gb/s services, in astrict-sense nonblocking switching architecture.

Furthermore, if J subrate services are mapped to each subchannel, thenJ×M×N circuits can be supported by this network.

When 10 subchannels are mapped into an ITU channel, providing 100 Gb/s,the switching network size increases to a 1600×1600 full logical mesh of10 Gb/s services.

FIG. 82 shows the case of a large distributed optical switching network8200. It is on a physical ring, but provides a logical mesh connectionbetween all circuits as shown in network 8300 in FIG. 83. A circuit canbe established between a pair of any client ports at any nodes by tuningthe subchannel lasers. Spurs or other rings can be connected as wellwith ITU channel filters used to direct the traffic across the ring. Asdiscussed previously, the ITU channel filter function can done withfixed or reconfigurable filters in a broadcast and select configurationor configuration with selective add and drop filters.

The subchannel routing software described in this document can be usedto determine which subchannels are available on each network segment,establish and monitor subchannel circuits, and reconfigure subchannelsfor network upgrades such as node insertions. The subchannel muxpondercan be used to upgrade an existing ITU network to provide M times thecapacity while providing the additional functionality of subchannelrouting, reconfiguration and restoration, switching, and physical layermonitoring. The network can also be operated in a hybrid manner, wheresubchannels coexist with standard ITU channels as ITU subchannels aresubdivided into subchannels as the network grows. This provides a “payas you grow” cost advantage.

D. Shared Wavelocker for Controlling Subchannel Frequencies

The above descriptions of various subchannel-related embodiments assumetunable lasers of sufficient precision to reliably distinguish multiplesubchannels (eg, subcarrier frequencies) within a single ITU channel. Asnoted above, tunable lasers for such subchannel-related applicationsrequire even greater accuracy than for ITU channel-based applications.

As is the case with all electronic and optical components, theperformance characteristics of the lasers employed in DWDM systemschange with temperature and with time. In particular, the frequency ofemitted laser light changes due to ambient temperature variations(typically from −5deg C. to 65deg C.) and due to aging.

If the WDM system requirements call for better absolute laser frequencystability than that of the DWDM (Dense Wavelength-Division Multiplexing)laser itself, an external wavelocking scheme is preferred. In thisscheme: (i) each laser has a set-point for its target frequency; (ii)the laser absolute frequency is measured by a measurement means that hasthe required absolute frequency accuracy; (iii) the control electronicsand/or software calculate the offset between each laser's actualfrequency and its target frequency, and communicates the error to eachlaser controller; and (iv) the laser set-point is adjusted appropriatelyto reduce the frequency error to a value within the system requirements.In this context, the terms “laser frequency” and “laser wavelength” maybe used interchangeably.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,215 discloses a wavelocking scheme that employs oneor more Fabry-Perot etalons placed inside each laser cavity. Yet, usingat least one integrated etalon per laser adds cost to the system, andthe locking error on each laser does not ensure that the lasers are allon the same frequency grid. Moreover, current integrated wavelockerdesigns offer absolute frequency accuracy on the order of +/−1 GHz ormore. This level of absolute accuracy is adequate for WDM systems wherechannels are located on the ITU grid with spacing of 50 or 100 GHz, butthis level of accuracy is not sufficient for DWDM systems such as thosebased on subchannels within an ITU with channel spacing on the order of10 GHz.

Existing architectures partially address these drawbacks with designsthat can lock multiple lasers to a grid using a shared external etalon.See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,369,923, which uses an etalon withspacing between resonant frequencies equal to the channel spacing. Itapplies the same dither on each laser, with the dither being activatedon one laser at a time while each laser is being monitored. U.S. Pat.No. 7,068,949 also uses an etalon with spacing between resonantfrequencies equal to the channel spacing. It applies different pilottones or low-amplitude frequency dithers (i.e. dithering) to each laserto be locked. The wavelocker detects the pilot tones with a Fast FourierTransform (FFT) signal analysis.

However, these methods do not scale to very large channel counts becausethe signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the signal required for lockingdecreases as more channels are added. These methods lock the laser arrayto the frequency grid of the Fabry-Perot etalon with an error on theorder of +/−1 GHz. These methods also require a dither or pilot tone tobe applied to each transmitter. The dither can add a bit-error penalty,and it also requires specialized hardware to be added to each laser.

We therefore disclose a method that offers significant performance andcost advantages over state-of-the-art wavelocking designs. Inparticular, this disclosed solution:

1 does not require any modifications to the transmitters-specifically,it does not require dithering the lasers, which can add a bit-errorpenalty;2 scales to a very large DWDM channel count without a decrease inSignal-to-Noise-Ratio (SNR) of the signal required to wavelock thelasers;3 independently measures and locks the frequency of each DWDM laser;4 references the frequencies of each DWDM laser directly to anabsorption frequency given by the fundamental physical quantumproperties of molecules in gaseous state. Thus, it is predominantlyindependent of engineering and design tolerances, inaccuracies,manufacturing defects, etc., that are inherent, for example, inFabry-Perot based wavelockers;5 provides absolute frequency accuracy of wavelocking or referencingDWDM laser frequencies at least 20 times better (e.g. +/−50 MHz) thanthat of existing solutions with minimal errors over time andtemperature;6 provides locking without requiring hardware calibration;7 provides an absolute accuracy that is determined by a NationalInstitute of Standards and Technology (NIST) certified reference that isdirectly linked to the fundamental frequency standards used by NIST; and8 provides wavelength accuracy comparable to that obtained by a NISTreference, since the frequency reference is based on absorption linesthat have been identified by NIST.

See the following references for background in this context: (i) W. C.Swann and S. L. Gilbert, “Line centers, pressure shift, and pressurebroadening of 1530-1560 nm hydrogen cyanide wavelength calibrationlines”, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, vol. 22, no. 8, pp. 1749-1759, August 2005;(ii) S. L. Gilbert, W. C. Swann and C-M Wang, “Hydrogen Cyanide H¹³C¹⁴Nabsorption reference for 1530 nm to 1565 nm wavelength Calibration-SRM2519a, Standard Reference Materials, National Institute of Standards andTechnology Special Publication 260-137, 2005 Edition; (iii) W. C. Swannand S. L Gilbert, “Pressure-induced shift and broadening of 1510-1540 nmacetylene wavelength calibration lines”, J. Opt. Soc. Am B 17, pp.1263-1270 (2000); and (iv) S. L. Gilbert and W. C. Swann, “Carbonmonoxide absorption references for 1560 nm to 1630 nm wavelengthCalibration-SRM 2514 (¹²C¹⁶O) and SRM 2515 (C¹⁶O), Standard ReferenceMaterials, National Institute of Standards and Technology SpecialPublication 260-142, 2002 Edition.

In one embodiment, a measured DWDM signal laser is referenced to atunable laser (oscillator) that has a well-known and stable absolutefrequency by measuring the beat frequency between the two lasers. Thisgives a frequency error equal to the frequency accuracy of the referencelaser. If improved accuracy is required, the accuracy of the referencelaser is improved by calibrating it in real-time to the absorption linesof a gas cell.

To minimize the system cost, this embodiment employs means of lockingmultiple DWDM lasers with a shared measurement system. These samemeasurement techniques could, however, be used with a single laser.

The strength of the beat frequency signal between two lasers depends onthe polarization alignment of the two lasers. Polarization alignmentbetween fiber-pigtailed lasers can be maintained withpolarization-maintaining fibers (PMF). However, most DWDM componentshave single-mode fiber (SMF), which does not preserve the polarization.Some embodiments described below use PMF to control the polarization.Other embodiments use a polarization scrambler for cases where PMF isnot available.

Case A Oscillator and Signal Lasers Linearly Polarized and allPolarizations Aligned NO Absorption Cell Embodiment 1 Beating of TwoLasers, Both at Fixed Frequencies

The simplest example of a frequency beating phenomenon may be describedas follows. Assume that two laser beams of equal optical power andaligned polarizations are launched into the Polarization Maintaining(PM) optical fiber. Assume that the first laser is tuned to an opticalfrequency f_(o) (oscillator) and the second laser is tuned to an opticalfrequency f_(s) (signal) so that the frequencies differ by:

f _(RF) =|f _(s) −f _(o)|, (e.g. f _(RF)=500 MHz);

Also assume that the linewidth of both lasers (Δf_(o-FWHM) for theoscillator and Δf_(s-FWHM) for the signal laser) are approximately thesame and equal to:

Δf _(FWHM) =Δf _(o-FWHM) =Δf _(s-FWHM);

and substantially smaller than f_(RF) (e.g. Δf_(FWHM)=1 MHz).

N.B. sub-index “FWHM” stands for a “Full Width at Half Maximum”linewidth definition.

When the combined light of both lasers is detected by a photodetectorwith an electrical bandwidth larger than f_(RF), but much smaller thanthe frequencies of optical light f_(s) or f_(o), the photocurrent of thephotodetector would have a sinusoidal electrical signal oscillating atthe beat frequency f_(RF). This phenomenon is known as frequencybeating, in this example between f_(s) and f_(o).

The photocurrent of the photodetector detecting the laser frequencybeating can be amplified by a trans-impedance amplifier (TZ) andfiltered by an electrical bandpass filter (BPF) centered at a fixed ortunable frequency f_(RF) with a fixed or tunable electrical bandwidthΔf_(RF-FWHM) (Δf_(RF-FWHM) being smaller than 2*f_(RF), but larger thanΔf_(FWHM)). If required, the beat signal can be amplified at the inputor output of the BPF. The BPF can act also as an amplifier. The beatsignal can be detected as follows. The BPF output is rectified, forexample, by using a zero offset rectifier (i.e. a rectifier without atypical 0.7V voltage drop (offset) of a simple semiconductor silicondiode rectification); averaged, e.g., by an operational-amplifier-basedintegrator; digitized by an analog to digital converter (ADC); andprocessed in the digital domain by, e.g., a digital signal processing(DSP) circuit. Note that the band pass filtering, rectification,amplification and any other signal processing required can be performedafter direct ADC conversion of the TZ output in the digital domain, e.g.within a microprocessor or a DSP.

For the purpose of this description, we call the electronic detectionand processing system that measures the beat frequency the “RF Detectionof the Beat Signal” (RFDBS), and its Direct Current (DC) (and/or directvoltage) signal at the input of the ADC after analog processingdescribed above as the “RFDBS Output.”

Embodiment 2 Beating a DWDM Signal Laser at Fixed Frequency (with aNarrow Optical Carrier) with an Oscillator Laser with a ScannedFrequency

We now expand the first example to a more practical beating systemsuitable for DWDM applications. We now assume that in addition to allthe conditions described above, the frequency of the reference laser,f_(o), is tuned from f_(s)-f_(RF)-ε to f_(s)+f_(RF)+ε, where ε is muchlarger than Δf_(FWHM). See graph 8400 in FIG. 84 which illustrates thiscase.

While scanning the oscillator laser within the said range, the amplitudeof the RFDBS output would show two strong peaks (maxima substantiallyhigher than zero) at frequencies of the oscillator laser approximatelyequal to f_(o)=f_(s)−f_(RF) and f_(o)=f_(s)+f_(RF), where the equal signmeans an equality within +/−Δf_(RF-FWHM) or a few times +/−Δf_(RF-FWHM).

In this example the RFDBS output is maximized when the oscillatorfrequencies are set to f_(o-left) and f_(o-right).

By analyzing the frequency positions of two RFDBS output peaks one candetermine that the frequency of the signal laser to measured is givenby:

f _(o-set)=(f _(o-left) +f _(o-right))/2=f _(s).

The described example is valid not only for DWDM signal lasers which arenarrow in spectrum, as in FIG. 84, but also for modulated DWDM lasers athigh bit rates (e.g. 10-40 Gb/s) with modulation formats such asNon-Return-to-Zero (NRZ) or Carrier-Suppressed-Return-to-Zero (CS-RZ)that have significant spectral energy at the optical carrier. In thecase of CS-RZ modulation format, the RFDBS output will have fourdistinct peaks and the formula to determine f_(o-set) is slightly morecomplex than the prior formula given above for the NRZ modulationformat.

Embodiment 3 Beating a DWDM Signal Laser at a Fixed Frequency (with aBroad Spectrum) with a Scanned in Frequency Oscillator Laser

For DWDM modulation formats such as duo-binary (DB),Quadrature-Phase-Shifted-Keying (QPSK) orDifferential-Quadrature-Phase-Shifted-Keying (DQPSK), the opticalcarrier is substantially or totally suppressed and the signal laserspectrum is broad (e.g. several or several tens of GHz) as shown ingraph 8500 in FIG. 85.

In this case, the RFDBS Output signal would in general show two broadspectral lines or more. They can be distinct and separated in spectrumas in FIG. 85 or overlap to some or large extent depending on the choiceof detection parameters such as f_(RF), Δf_(RF-FWHM), Δf_(o-FWHM),bandwidth of the photodetector, gain and integration constant of theprocessing circuit, intensity of both signal and oscillator lasers andother design parameters for a particular implementation.

In one embodiment, the RFDBS signal spectrum, namely the RFDBS outputversus the oscillator laser frequency, can be processed and analyzed,and the absolute frequency of the signal laser, f_(s) (e.g. defined atthe center of its broad spectrum) can be determined.

General Approach

In general, for each modulation format of DWDM signal lasers andspecific DWDM system requirements, the optimum set of system parameterssuch as f_(RF), Δf_(RF-FWHM), Δf_(o-FWHM) bandwidth of thephotodetector, gain and integration constant of the processing circuit,intensity of both signal and oscillator lasers and so on, exist.Optimization of these parameters and the overall design is well known inthe art of heterodyne radio receivers design.

Implementation Type 1

FIG. 86 illustrates one possible implementation 8600 of this approach.The linear polarization of the lasers is preserved in polarizationmaintaining fibers (PMF) 8610 a and 8610 b, and both lasers (OscillatorLaser 8615 and Signal Laser 8625) are combined in such a way that, atthe output of PM Coupler 1 8630, their polarizations are aligned.

An algorithm implemented by the control unit 8650 in FIG. 86 includesthe following steps:

1 Set the frequency of the signal laser 8625 to an initial setpointvalue f_(s-set-ini), which may or may not be equal (within requiredsystem tolerance) to the absolute frequency of the signal laserrequired, f_(s-target);2 Scan the frequency of the oscillator laser 8615 fromf_(s-target)-f_(RF)-ε to f_(s-target)+f_(RF)+ε recording at eachscanning step the frequency setpoint of the oscillator laser 8615. Makesure that ε is large enough, e.g. much larger than the anticipatedsignal laser absolute frequency error (error=f_(s-set-ini)−f_(s-target);and the bandwidth of the signal Δf_(s-FWHM);3 Record at each scanning point an amplitude of RFDBS output, therebyobtaining at the end of the scan a table of data with beat signal versusthe oscillator laser frequency;4 By processing and analyzing the RDFBS Output spectrum, determine thecurrent absolute frequency of the signal laser, f_(s-current); e.g. byusing equation (1) for NRZ modulation format;5 Calculate correction to the signal laser setpoint asf_(s-set-corr)=f_(s-target)−f_(s-current);6 Modify the signal laser frequency setpoint asf_(s-set-final)=f_(s-set-ini)+f_(s-set-corr);7 Set signal laser frequency to f_(s-set-final) and call it from then onf_(s-set-ini);8 Repeat steps 1 to 7 as fast and as often as needed to keep the signallaser frequency within the accuracy required by the DWDM system.

WITH Absorption Cell

In DWDM systems which require higher or substantially higher absolutesignal laser frequency stability and accuracy than that given by theoscillator laser, the oscillator laser can be calibrated during eachscan by a more precise external frequency reference.

Description of a Gas Cell as Wavelength Reference

A very stable and accurate frequency reference is available in the formof absorption cells filled with specific molecules in a gaseous state. Agas chosen for this application has many narrow absorption lines withinthe spectral region of interest. For example, the following moleculescan be employed in different spectral regions:

1255-1355 nm HF Hydrogen Fluoride O-band 1510-1540 nm ¹²C₂H₂ AcetyleneS-band 1529-1564 nm H¹³C¹⁴N Hydrogen Cyanide C-band 1560-1600 nm ¹²COCarbon Monoxide L-band 1590-1640 nm ¹³CO Carbon Monoxide L-band+

To assure absolute accuracy of the location of the absorption lines inthe optical spectrum, the molecules in the gas cell must contain onlyparticular atomic isotopes with well-defined reference frequencies.

A mixture of molecular gases can be used to cover a much wider spectrumrange than listed above. For example, a mixture of Hydrogen Cyanide(H¹³C¹⁴N), Carbon Monoxide (¹²CO) and Carbon Monoxide (¹³CO) covers thespectral range 1520 nm to 1640 nm.

A typical absorption spectrum 8700 of Hydrogen Cyanide (H¹³C¹⁴N) isshown in graph 8700 in FIG. 87.

The spectral positions of all absorption lines change only very slightlywith temperature. Since the temperature dependence of line positions iswell known, this dependence can be calibrated out if the celltemperature is being measured and processed by the control unit (such ascontrol unit 8650 in FIG. 86).

The spectral positions of all absorption lines are predominantlydependent on a gas pressure in a cell as illustrated in graph 8800 inFIG. 88, which does not change in time and is known and determined inthe cell manufacturing process.

The linewidths of the absorption lines also change with gas pressure asillustrated in graph 8900 in FIG. 89. When lower pressure is chosen, thelines are narrower in spectrum and their positions can be measured moreaccurately. The gas pressure can be determined by measuring andanalyzing the spectral widths of the absorption lines.

As mentioned above, several molecular gasses (including Hydrogen Cyanide(H¹³C¹⁴N)) have been fully characterized by NIST and provide excellentabsolute frequency references.

Graph 9000 in FIG. 90 shows the absolute frequency accuracy of HydrogenCyanide (H¹³C¹⁴N) absorption line positions over a typical operatingtemperature range of −5° C. to +70° C. The vertical axis is given in ITUchannel numbers where, for example, channel 20 corresponds to theoptical frequency 192.0 THz and channel 60 corresponds to 196.0 THz.

Graph 9100 in FIG. 91 shows the FWHM linewidths of Hydrogen Cyanide(H¹³C¹⁴N) absorption lines. It is apparent that lower gas pressuresoffer narrower absorption peaks, which provides more measurementaccuracy.

A summary of the absolute errors in absorption peak positions forHydrogen Cyanide (H¹³C¹⁴N) at three different gas pressures is presentedin Table 2 and Table 3 (assuming no corrections for temperaturedependence).

TABLE 2 Parameter Units MIN MAX Operating Temperature deg C. −5 70 RangeGas Pressure % −25 25 Uncertainty Fitting Error MHz 2.5 Line Spacing GHz58 172

TABLE 3 Cell Pressure (kPa) Units 1.0 3.3 13.3 Max. Frequency Error MHz11 32 57 (2*Sigma) Max. Linewidth FWHM GHz 0.8 2.3 9.0

Table 3 shows that when a cell with 1.0 kPa gas pressure is used, themaximum (worst line) uncertainty of the absorption peak spectralposition is +/−11 MHz (within 2 standard deviations). The average erroramong all lines under these conditions is +/−7.6 MHz. Theseuncertainties can be improved by 10-20% by calibrating out thetemperature dependence.

Note that the absolute wavelength accuracy of the best commerciallyavailable laboratory wavemeters is +/−30 MHz. These instruments are verycostly (tens of thousands of dollars), bulky, operate only at alaboratory temperature range, and are not suitable for DWDM systemapplications. Due to technical, physical, size and cost limitations,their absolute accuracy has not been improved at all over the last 15years. At present, and at least the near future, only national standardslaboratories are able to measure optical frequencies with betterabsolute accuracy than +/−30 MHz.

We describe herein methods to measure the absolute laser frequency withan accuracy of approximately +/−10 MHz in a cost effective way, and witha design that can easily be implemented in a DWDM system.

Calibration of the Oscillator Laser Frequency Setpoints by ReferenceFrequencies of the Absorption Cell.

This section describes how we can use the absorption cell describedabove as an ultra-stable optical frequency (wavelength) reference.

A part of the oscillator laser light is transmitted through theabsorption cell and the resulting optical output from the cell isdetected by a photodiode, followed by a TZ, a low-pass filter (LPF)(possibly with amplification) and converted to the digital domain by anADC. We refer to the DC voltage at the input of the ADC as the “CELLOutput”. Again as before, amplification, LPF and other processingfunctions can be implemented in the digital domain, e.g. in a DSP, whenthe ADC is installed just after the TZ.

While the oscillator laser is being scanned in frequency, the CELLOutput signal would stay mostly constant (corresponding to a fullytransparent cell without any gas) except for the spectral regions whichhave gas absorption lines.

A typical spectral shape of an absorption line of a gas cell ispresented in graph 9200 in FIG. 92. In this particular example, theabsorption line P16 for Hydrogen Cyanide (H¹³C¹⁴N) is measured at aquite high pressure of 13 kPa (100 Torr). Consequently the line is quitebroad, which reduces the accuracy with which the peak position can bedetermined.

The oscillator frequency in FIG. 92 was scanned in 0.1 pm steps (74GHz).

After accumulating all the absorption line points during the scan (i.e.the CELL Output versus the oscillator set frequency), the collected datacan be analyzed by variety of methods in order to find an absorption dipposition f_(CELL-i), where index “i” numbers consecutive dips in thewhole absorption spectrum (e.g. 50 strong lines in Hydrogen Cyanide).

The simplest method and the least accurate method would be to select asampling point of the scan with the lowest value. The most sophisticatedand most accurate method would involve:

1 fitting a straight line or a parabola to the relatively flatbackground signal around the absorption line and subtracting this fitfrom the measured sampling points of the absorption line;2 fitting to the full (and background free) absorption shape atheoretical Galatry function which offers a perfect fit to the shape ofthe line;3 determining from the Galatry function an optical frequency of the dipposition, f_(CELL-i)4 finding the oscillator frequency setpoint, f_(o-near-CELL-i), which isthe closest to dip position;5 fitting a straight line or a parabola to several oscillator opticalfrequency setpoints, f_(o-set-j), (where index “j” numbers consecutivesampling setpoints) recorded during the scan for each sampling point andlocated approximately symmetrically around f_(o-near-CELL-i)6 interpolating the function determined in point (v) to calculate theoscillator frequency setpoint, f_(o-set-CELL-i) which corresponds totuning the oscillator to the minimum of the absorption line with index“i”, f_(CELL-i).7 assigning to the oscillator setpoint f_(o-set-CELL-i) an opticalfrequency value determined by NIST for this absorption line, f_(CELL-i).

Simpler methods can be applied such as:

1 fitting a Voigt or Lorentzian profile function instead of Galatryfunction;2 not subtracting the background;3 fitting a Gaussian function or a parabola only in the neighborhood ofthe absorption dip;

Regardless of the method used in determining the spectral dip position,the end result of this process is to find the setpoint of theoscillator, f_(o-set-CELL-i) which would tune it as accurately aspossible to the dip of the absorption line and to assign to thissetpoint the NIST-determined optical frequency, f_(CELL-i).

Embodiment 4 Beating of a DWDM Signal Laser at Fixed Frequency (with aBroad Spectrum) with an Oscillator Laser Scanned in Frequency and aFrequency Reference Cell

Calibration of the oscillator frequency setpoints against the knownpositions of the cell absorption peaks can be used to significantlyimprove the absolute frequency accuracy of the oscillator andconsequently the signal laser.

The oscillator frequency setpoints can be calibrated with a very highabsolute accuracy only at the absorption peak frequencies,f_(o-set-CELL-i)=f_(CELL-i).

Any other optical frequency of the oscillator setpoints needs to becalibrated by interpolation or extrapolation of two or moref_(o-set-CELL-i) determined setpoints.

FIG. 93 shows an example of a calibration of the oscillator laserfrequency setpoints by the reference frequencies of the absorption cell.In this example, the oscillator laser frequency is being scanned over awider range of optical frequencies, such that during scanning at leasttwo absorption lines are measured, resulting in calibration of at leasttwo frequency points of the oscillator during the scan. Preferably, theabsorption lines measured should be placed on both sides of the measuredsignal wavelength.

Implementation Type 2

A practical implementation 9400 of calibration of the oscillatorsetpoints and the measurement of beat frequency spectrum is shown onFIG. 94.

A temperature sensor 9410 measuring the temperature of the absorptioncell 9420 is optional and required only if a slight temperaturedependence of the absorption line positions needs to be calibrated out.

An algorithm implemented by the control unit 9450 in FIG. 94 includesthe following steps:

1 Select a particular signal laser frequency to be measured and/orcontrolled f_(s-target);2 Set the frequency of the selected signal laser to an initial setpointvalue f_(s-set-ini), which would be close but may or may not be equal(within required system tolerance) to the absolute frequency of thesignal laser 9425 required, f_(s-target);3 Find from a theoretical look-up table frequencies of (e.g. two) theclosest cell absorption peaks, f_(CELL-i1) and f_(CELL-i2), to the leftand right of f_(s-target), respectively (f_(CELL-i1)<f_(CELL-i2));4 Scan the frequency of the oscillator laser 9415 from f_(CELL-i1)−ε tof_(CELL-i2)+ε, recording at each scanning step the frequency setpoint ofthe oscillator laser 9415. Make sure that ε is large enough, e.g. largeenough that both absorption peaks are fully measured including the flatspectral regions to the left of peak i1 and to the right of peak i2 forbackground subtraction, if required;5 Record at each scanning step the amplitude of the CELL Output signal,which results in a record of the cell absorption spectrum versus theoscillator frequency (given by its setpoints at each scanning step);6 Record at each scanning point the amplitude of the RFDBS Outputsignal, which results in a record of the RFDBS Output spectrum versusoscillator frequency;7 In a processing unit (e.g. DSP), analyze all measured cell absorptionlines and find the oscillator laser 9415 frequency setpointscorresponding to the minima of the absorption lines, f_(o-set-CELL-i1)and f_(o-set-CELLi2). By interpolation or extrapolation, calibrate theoscillator setpoints for all scanning steps and use the calibratedfrequencies for each scanning step in the analysis of the RFDBS Output;8 By processing and analyzing the RFDBS Output spectrum, determine thecurrent absolute frequency of the signal laser 9425, f_(s-current); e.g.by using equation (1) for NRZ modulation format and numerical techniques(similar to those described for finding the spectral position of thecell absorption dip) to find a center frequency of the signal laser9425, f_(s-current);9 Calculate a correction to the signal laser 9425 setpoint asf_(s-set-corr)=f_(s-target)−f_(s-current);10 Modify the signal laser 9425 frequency setpoint asf_(s-set-final)=f_(s-set-ini)+f_(s-set-corr);11 Set signal laser 9425 frequency to f_(s-set-final) and call it fromnow on f_(s-set-ini);12 Repeat steps 1 to 11 as fast and as often as needed at frequencyf_(s-target) as required by DWDM system accuracy.13 Repeat steps 1 to 12 for another DWDM signal laser or lasers.

Implementation Type 3

The implementations described above assumed that the optical outputpower of the oscillator laser does not change during the frequency scan.Generally, this assumption may not be correct and power variability ofthe oscillator potentially distorts both the CELL Output and RFDBSspectra measurements.

FIG. 95 illustrates an implementation 9500 in which the variations ofthe oscillator optical output power are measured and used as a referencesignal to correct (normalize) both CELL Output and RFDBS Output spectra.

Implementation Type 4

For some DWDM system applications, the implementations described abovemay not be accurate when the signal laser is being modulated. Thisoccurs when the signal laser light is modulated by an RF signal, e.g. at10 Gb/s, resulting in a signal optical bandwidth, Δf_(s-FWHM), ofseveral GHz, e.g. 16 GHz. Such a wide optical bandwidth would produce anapproximately equally wide RFDBS Output spectrum, thereby reducing theaccuracy of the measurement by an equivalent amount.

FIG. 96 illustrates an implementation 9600 in which this problem isavoided. In this embodiment, the signal laser 9625 light is split(tapped at 9660) before the RF modulation is applied (by data modulator9670) and the frequency of the tapped light is determined by one of themethods described above.

Case B Oscillator Laser Output is Linearly Polarized but the SignalLasers Polarization Randomly Changes in Time

In the above embodiments, both signal and oscillator lasers light arepolarized linearly and both polarizations are aligned on thephotodetector. In some applications, the implementation of these designswould be too costly or not practical.

The strength of the beat frequency (RFDBS Output) depends on thepolarization alignment between the two lasers. When the lasers arepolarized orthogonally to each other the beat frequency would not begenerated at all. This issue is addressed below in a practical designfor random polarizations.

Implementation Type 5

FIG. 97 illustrates an implementation 9700 in which there are norestrictions for the state of polarization of the signal laser.

In this implementation, the oscillator laser 9715 light is transmittedthrough a polarization scrambler 9720 with preferably high scramblingspeed (e.g. over 1 kHz). At the output of the polarization scrambler9720, the polarization of the oscillator changes rapidly, and after sometime reaches all or almost all polarization states possible.

The scrambled oscillator light 9730 will beat with the randomlypolarized and time-dependent signal light for half of the time onaverage, providing that:

1 the integration time constant of the integrator placed before the ADCconverter which provides RFDBS Output is substantially longer than thescrambling speed; and2 the scanning speed of the oscillator laser is slow enough that, ateach sampling point, both RFDSB and CELL Outputs would reach a steadystate.

The implementation 9700 illustrated in FIG. 97 works equally well as allthe previously described implementations in which both laserspolarizations were preserved and aligned. The polarization scrambler9720 can be introduced to any of the four implementations describedabove, and PM fibers in these implementations can be replaced by non-PMfibers, e.g. SMF-28.

Thus, this novel approach applies to both types of fiber systems: (i)based on polarization maintaining fiber; and (ii) standardnon-polarization maintaining fiber such as SMF-28; or hybrid. In bothsystems, the absolute accuracy of stabilizing a DWDM signal laser orlasers remains the same.

Stabilization of Multiple Signal Lasers in DWDM System

This approach of stabilizing DWDM signal laser wavelength can be appliedin many different architectures to stabilize multiple signal lasers.

Implementation Type 6

FIG. 98 and FIG. 99 show possible architectures which share thefrequency stabilization hardware and control circuits among many signallasers (with signals propagating along multiple fibers in embodiment9800 or a single fiber in embodiment 9900.

This approach can also be used as a very accurate, high resolutionoptical spectrum analyzer or fiber monitor. FIG. 100 shows a typicalDWDM network node 10000 where all incoming and outgoing optical spectrain all fibers are monitored.

FIG. 101 shows an electro-optic circuit 10100 that can be used tomeasure the beat frequency for the case where there arepolarization-maintaining fibers connecting the signal lasers 10125 andthe reference laser 10115. Note that the detection circuits in FIGS. 101to 103 can be implemented with the same blocks in a different order, forexample the AC RF bandpass filter with gain 10110 can be placed beforethe Zero offset rectifier 10120.

The absorption frequencies are characterized, and do not varysignificantly with temperature. Measuring the absorption of the gas cell10150 versus the frequency of the reference tunable laser 10115 enablesthe software to apply a calibration factor to the reference laser 10115to increase its accuracy to the order of ±0.1 GHz or better.

A microprocessor algorithm for the circuit shown in FIG. 101 includesthe following steps:

1 Tune the reference laser 10151 to an absorption band;2 Measure the offset between the laser set point and expected frequencyof the absorption band (see 10152). Record the difference, f_(C), andapply the offset of the following measurements;3 Tune the reference laser 10151 to the frequency of the signal laser10125 to be measured and scan the reference laser 10151 across thesignal bandwidth while measuring the strength of the beat signal (see10153). Fit a curve to the measured beat signal and interpolate to getthe value of the reference laser 10151 frequency f_(R) that maximizesthe beat signal f_(D). Calculate the frequency of the signal laser 10125as f_(S)=f_(R)+f_(D)+f_(C); and4 Calculate the error in the signal laser 10125 and send a message tothe laser source to correct its setpoint (see 10154). Raise an alarm ifthe laser 10125 is not responding to the tuning messages. Repeat untilthe error is within an acceptable bound and then repeat for the nextlaser 10125.

This method can also be used to measure the spectrum of signals in atransmission fiber to provide a monitoring and alarm function.

There are often cases in an optical network where it is difficult tomaintain the polarization between the reference laser and the signallasers. In such cases, the beat signal can be measured by using apolarization controller 10250 (as shown in embodiment 10200 in FIG. 102)to align the reference laser 10215 with the signal to be measured. Aseach signal laser 10225 is scanned, the polarization controller 10250 isadjusted to maximize the beat signal.

An alternative embodiment 10300 is shown in FIG. 103 where apolarization scrambler 10320 is used instead of a polarizationcontroller.

Another embodiment of a subchannel muxponder 10400 is shown in FIG. 104.In this embodiment, integrated transceivers 10410, such as DWDDM XFPs,are tuned to the correct subchannel frequency. The shared wavelengthlocker 10413 can be used at the transmitter to improve the nominalchannel spacing of the integrated optical devices.

For example, 50 GHz XFPs can be locked to a 25 GHz or 12.5 GHz grid withthe improved frequency accuracy given by the locker 10413.

1. A system that can route client signals among a plurality of nodesinterconnected by one or more fiber optic cables to form an opticalnetwork, the system comprising: (a) a subchannel mapper that can mapeach of a plurality of client signals to any available subchannel of anyITU channel, wherein each ITU channel has a predefined ITU frequency anda corresponding plurality of subchannels, and wherein each subchannelhas an associated frequency with a predetermined offset from thepredefined ITU frequency of the subchannel's corresponding ITU channel;(b) a first network route that designates the origin of a first clientsignal at a first node, and a destination for the first client signal ata second node; and (c) a tunable laser at the first node that can be setto a first subchannel frequency for which the second node has a filterto receive signals transmitted at that subchannel frequency, (d) wherebythe system can route the client signal from the first node to the secondnode by tuning the laser to the first subchannel frequency and mappingthe client signal to the subchannel associated with that subchannelfrequency.
 2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a fixed add/dropfilter that can add or receive client signals transmitted at apredetermined subchannel frequency.
 3. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising a reconfigurable add/drop filter that can be remotelyreconfigured to add or receive client signals transmitted at one of aplurality of remotely specified subchannel frequencies.
 4. The system ofclaim 1, further comprising a hardware optical crossconnect switch thatcan assign each of a plurality of client signals to any of a pluralityof available subchannel frequencies, thereby effectively routing anyclient signal to an available port of any or all nodes of the opticalnetwork.
 5. The system of claim 1, further comprising software that canremotely set the tunable laser to a second subchannel frequency and adda second network route, thereby effectively controlling the direction inwhich a second client signal is transmitted on the optical network, aswell as the destination nodes that will receive that second clientsignal.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein subchannel hopping is employedas a security measure to modify over time the subchannel, and associatedsubchannel frequency, to which a second client signal is mapped.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the destination for the first client signalis embedded in the in-band overhead channel of the signal containing asits payload the first client signal, thereby enabling the first clientsignal to be routed by monitoring the overhead channel.
 8. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the destination is embedded in the overhead channel inthe form of one of the following: (i) an ethernet address; (ii) an IPaddress; (iii) an MPLS tag; (iv) a VLAN ID; or (v) a TCP port.
 9. Amethod for routing client signals among a plurality of nodesinterconnected by one or more fiber optic cables to form an opticalnetwork, the method comprising the following steps: (a) mapping each ofa plurality of client signals to any available subchannel of any ITUchannel, wherein each ITU channel has a predefined ITU frequency and acorresponding plurality of subchannels, and wherein each subchannel hasan associated frequency with a predetermined offset from the predefinedITU frequency of the subchannel's corresponding ITU channel; (b)designating the origin of a first client signal at a first node, and adestination for the first client signal at a second node; and (c)setting a tunable laser at the first node to a first subchannelfrequency for which the second node has a filter to receive signalstransmitted at that subchannel frequency, (d) whereby the client signalcan be routed from the first node to the second node by tuning the laserto the first subchannel frequency and mapping the client signal to thesubchannel associated with that subchannel frequency.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, further comprising the step of adding or receiving clientsignals, at a predetermined subchannel frequency, via a fixed add/dropfilter.
 11. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step ofremotely reconfiguring a reconfigurable add/drop filter to add orreceive client signals transmitted at one of a plurality of remotelyspecified subchannel frequencies.
 12. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising the step of assigning, via a hardware optical crossconnectswitch, each of a plurality of client signals to any of a plurality ofavailable subchannel frequencies, thereby effectively routing any clientsignal to an available port of any or all nodes of the optical network.13. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of remotelysetting the tunable laser to a second subchannel frequency to controlthe direction in which a second client signal is transmitted on theoptical network, and determine the destination nodes that will receivethat second client signal.
 14. The method of claim 9, further comprisingthe step of modifying over time the subchannel, and associatedsubchannel frequency, to which a second client signal is mapped, therebyemploying subchannel hopping as a security measure.
 15. The method ofclaim 9, further comprising the step of embedding the destination forthe first client signal in the in-band overhead channel of the signalcontaining as its payload the first client signal, thereby enabling thefirst client signal to be routed by monitoring the overhead channel. 16.The method of claim 15, wherein the destination is embedded in theoverhead channel in the form of one of the following: (i) an ethernetaddress; (ii) an IP address; (iii) an MPLS tag; (iv) a VLAN ID; or (v) aTCP port.
 17. A method for protecting client signals routed alongredundant paths among a plurality of nodes interconnected by one or morefiber optic cables to form an optical network, the method comprising thefollowing steps: (a) mapping each of a plurality of client signals toany available subchannel of any ITU channel, wherein each ITU channelhas a predefined ITU frequency and a corresponding plurality ofsubchannels, and wherein each subchannel has an associated frequencywith a predetermined offset from the predefined ITU frequency of thesubchannel's corresponding ITU channel; (b) defining a working networkroute that designates the origin of a first client signal at a firstnode, a destination for the first client signal at a second node, and aworking path from the first node to the second node; (c) defining aprotected network route that designates the origin of the first clientsignal at the first node, a destination for the first client signal atthe second node, and a protected path from the first node to the secondnode; (d) transmitting the first client signal to the second node alongboth the working path and the protected path, wherein the first clientsignal is mapped to both a first subchannel of any ITU channel fortransmission along the working path, and a second subchannel of any ITUchannel for transmission along the protected path; and (e) determiningwhether the second node will receive the first client signal via theworking path or the protected path, wherein the working path is selectedby default, except in the event of a failure along the working path, inwhich case the protected path is selected until the failure has beenrepaired.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein each of a plurality ofworking paths has a corresponding dedicated protected path.
 19. Themethod of claim 17, wherein the protected path can be shared among aplurality of working paths, each assigned to a different subchannel.